AV 22nd February 2014

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VOL 42. ISSUE 42

Let noble thoughts come to us from every side

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US envoy hails Modi’s ‘development model’

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Sikhs warn Conservatives of possible boycott

The British Sikhs have warned the Conservative party with a withdrawal of support in the 2015 General Election, unless Prime Minister David Cameron agrees to start a large scale inquiry into Britain's role at planning the Operation Blue Star in 1984.

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700,000 Sikhs live in Britain, including constituencies in parts of London, Birmingham and the wider West Midlands and their vote is definitely one of the decisive factors of a party's future in the 2015 general election.

Continued on page 2

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Signaling a thaw in United State’s 9-year-old boycott of Gujarat Chief Minister, the US Ambassador to India Nancy Powell along with other senior American officials met rising star of BJP Narendra Modi at his residence in Gandhinagar.

After the meeting, the US said that it was looking forward to working closely with the government “Indian people choose.”

This remark is seen as an endorsement of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.

Interestingly, Powell’s visit was the first by a US ambassador to the Gujarat Chief Minister since Modi was denied visa by US government in March 2005.

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Koirala sworn in Nepal PM Sushil Koirala was sworn in as Nepal's prime minister on Tuesday, after winning the backing of fellow legislators and tasked with steering the strifetorn Himalayan nation towards stability.

Koirala, head of the country's biggest political party the Nepali Continued on page 26

Lok Sabha passes Telangana bill Nancy Powell with Narendra Modi Though the US tried to play down the visit of its envoy and in an official statement said that it was the part of an exercise to increase engagement with

Indian leaders, the meeting of US emissary with the Modi has great significance, especially at a time Continued on page 26

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Amid hullabaloo in the lower house (Lok Sabha) of Indian Parliament, the bill seeking the creation of a separate Telangana state bifurcating Andhra Pradesh, was passed by Continued on page 26

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www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

Keith Vazwith MP

Keith Vaz MP

Lex Go

it, it would save so much time.

Lex Go was born in Leicestershire and studied Law and Business as well as Marketing at the Universities of Leicester and de Montfort. At the very young age of seventeen he started his first business editing wedding videos. At twenty he opened his first retail car showroom before moving into the property market in his mid-twenties. He is now the Managing Director of Alex Clark Lettings, who has recently opened a new showroom on Granby Street in Leicester.

1) Please tell me about your current position?

I am Managing Director of Alex Clark Lettings and investments, specialists in property letting and management 2) What are your proudest achievements?

My proudest achievement in business so far are to make people happy and to marry them to the right property. I use this example because I am a firm believer that people

5) Who has been the biggest influence on your career to date?

Martyn Ward, because if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t have started what I’m doing today and Urim Mertinaj for his crazy ideas, enthusiasm.

6) What is the best aspect about your current role?

Best aspect of my current role is that there are no limits.

You can drive as fast or as slow as you want.

want to make a home, not just a house.

3) What inspires you?

When people call in and say thank you and appreciate what we do it makes you want to do more. What inspires me is showing people there’s more to life than meets the eye. The inspiration of seeing people from humble beginnings and backgrounds being successful and achieve well whatever background they are from.

4) What has been the biggest obstacle in your career?

The biggest obstacle in my career has for me been transparency, we all want something in life. If people would just say

Sikhs warn Conservatives of possible boycott

Continued from page 1 The Sikh Federation UK that has initiated a letter writing campaign warned that thousands of Sikh voters could boycott Conservative party candidates at next year's general election, unless PM Cameron agrees to 'dig deeper' into Britain's role at the Operation Blue Star in 1984.

Amrik Singh, Chair of Sikh Federation UK, told the Sunday Telegraph, "we already have the support of over 50 politicians for an independent public inquiry. In the next few days this number will increase to over 100."

"Many Conservative politicians in Labour target seats but not supporting the inquiry are under pressure as we have started to gain the support of prospective candidates who are their main rivals," he claimed.

The report also said that worshippers at gurdwaras across the country will be urged to write to their MPs demanding that they back calls for a full public inquiry. The Federation has reportedly said that MPs who refuse to support the call are likely to be banned from gurdwaras and will also face losing the votes of Sikhs in their constituencies.

British Asian Conservative Parliamentary candidate urges the party to secure Asian support

After the demands and challenges by the British Sikhs, the Tories face a further wake up call, as a British Asian C o n s e r v a t i v e Parliamentary candidate emphasises that they must secure support of the Asian community, if they want to win the 2015 general election.

Afzal Amin, pictured, a former British Army officer, reportedly told the Huffington Post that many ethnic minority voters still considered the Conservatives as a "racist party" because the party had "failed" to reach out to British Asians. In 2005 a total of two Tory MPs were from ethnic minority background represented the community, which has now increased to 11- a great improvement though Mr Amin believes that there are several challenges ahead, after the party's recent goof ups like the 'go home or face arrest campaign'.

"We need to further improve, as the population changes, how we communicate," he said.

"We need to recognise that people like me … we are not foreigners, we are not immigrants, we haven’t come from somewhere else, we are from

here. The party needs to speak to us as British people and not as people from abroad."

"We may have healthier tans but we are British through and through. The party needs to change significantly how it relates to black and minority people."

Amin said that among ethnic minority voters in his West Midlands constituency of Dudley North, "the general perception is that the Conservative party is a racist party" Mr Amin reportedly added that in order to gain the votes of minorities, the Tories needed to engage with them and have "much more of a presence" in those communities.

7) And the worst?

The worst has to be the everyday basic business chores and red tape.

goals?

My long term goals are to grow so big and on the way take people with me and to help the less fortunate. Even now I help charities to provide clean classrooms, clean water and free schooling for children in South Asia.

9) If you were Prime Minister, what one aspect would you change?

If I was Prime Minister, one aspect I would change is immigration policy. I would model our borders on what Australia does: control how many and who come through. I am sure that would help our economy.

10) If you were marooned on a desert island, which historical figure would you like to spend your time with and why?

It would be Albert Einstein.

Because of his scientific approach and the fact that he left the world with his knowledge and pioneering moral leadership.

Swaminarayan Temple, Stanmore, hosts special seminar on grooming and entrapment 8) What are your long term

On Saturday, the 8th of February Shree Swaminarayan Temple, Dharma Bhakti Manor based in Stanmore held a special seminar on grooming and entrapment.

Many of us today understand the issue but fail to accept the seriousness of child/youth sexual exploitation. The events guest speakers were Detective Sergeant Bhupendra Sonigra from the Sexual Offences, Exploitation, Child Abuse command unit of the Metropolitan Police and Bhai Mohan Singh from the Sikh Awareness Society. The speakers highlighted the typical behavioural patterns to help the community recog-

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nise victims of abuse and also helps us to identify and prevent potential perpetrators of such crimes.

Working with various partnered organisations such as Hindu Forum of

Britain, Hindu Council UK, Hindu Forum of Europe, Shree Kutch Leva Patel Community (SKLPC), Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (UK) and many others the Swaminarayan temple were able to bring together over 400 people of mix age groups. The seminar provided the members of the community with intriguing facts and details about how grooming initially starts and what victims have to go through during this ordeal. This eye opening seminar had bought the community together in unity and provided a platform for opening the discussion around what support can be offered to others and their families.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

COMMENT

Indian democracy in disrepute

Scenes in India’s Parliament last week have brought the country’s politics to a new low. The warning signs were clear well before the climax.

Parliamentary business has been repeatedly stalled by obstreperous legislators who have become a law unto themselves, oblivious of their responsibilities as representatives of the people, including a brazen disregard of the Indian taxpayer who funds their presence in the House. Bad behaviour has become steadily worse, the nadir reached when a group of unruly MPs brought pepper sprays into the Lok Sabha and sprayed their opponents, causing them acute discomfort. All this occurred over the government’s Telangana Bill setting up a new state through the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. Truth is that errant MPs should have been called to order long ago. The Lok Sabha Speaker and her Rajya Sabha counterpart should have convened a meeting of party leaders and asked for an imposition of discipline among their members, failing which both the Speakers would draw up red lines in the sand on MPs’ conduct. Further lapses should lead to a variety of suspensions, depending on the nature of the misconduct. Suspended MPs could be barred from the chamber, ranging from a day to a week or for the entire session, if need be. They could also be forcibly removed by stewards on the orders of the Speaker for persistent misbehavior. All these are options which must now be seriously considered.

There is no reason why this charade should continue unchecked at a cost to the public purse..

The disgraceful pepper spraying incidents will lead possibly to MPs being frisked at the door of Parliament, as ordinary citizens are when they seek entry to the public gallery. Innocent MPs will have to undergo the search together with those prone to

disrupt parliamentary proceedings. Any political system is as good as the people responsible for its workings. There is no law of nature that guarantees the superiority of democracy if you have hoodlums taking centre stage in the public space. “Power without responsibility is [and has been] the eternal prerogative of the harlot down the ages,” pronounced Stanley Baldwin, a British prime minister of the 1920s and 30s. It carries as much truth today in India as it did across the seas almost a century ago. Public life in India now is confusion worse confounded. Reasoned argument and honest debate are at its lowest premium since the country’s independence in August 1947. Insults, smears, libel are the stuff of roadside theatre, and it is far from entertaining. Time to call a halt and take stock. Better still, images of riotous MPs should be put out on the social media networks for the edification of voters at the next general election.

Arvind Kejriwal has ended his performance as Delhi Pied Piper with a melodramatic resignation over his Lokpal Bill. Perhaps he sensed the end was nigh after he took on Mukesh Ambani, so he decided to exit trailing clouds of false glory. One Delhi State election over, another will soon loom over the horizon. What a waste of public money. Mr Kejriwal made waves, dominating media headlines with street corner government and vacuous promises.

Ageing middle class women, some celebrities, were looking to resurrect fading careers. They saw new vistas of opportunity opening up amidst a glare of welcome publicity. Their vaulting ambitions have turned to rubble. The racism of some Aam Aadmi notables was an exercise in indecent exposure – surely an experience best avoided.

This surely is an exercise in futility. The Pakistan government’s stop-go attempts to set up talks with the Tekrik-i-Taliban (a homegrown outfit separate from the Afghan Taliban) has little or no chance of bringing the country’s sectarian strife to a peaceful end. The Pakistan Taliban will accept nothing less than the strictest imposition of Sharia. Otherwise suicide bombings, such as those in Peshawar and elsewhere, would likely follow. The heavy death toll and the mounting injuries to innocent citizens give a desperate edge to Islamabad’s search for some sort of face-saving solution . The government is caught in a cleft stick designed by the Pakistani military-civilian nexus over the past decades. While the government in this instance was attempting to stitch a deal with the Taliban, terror groups like the Lashkar-eTaiba and its leader Hafiz Saeed were roaming the streets of Lahore in full public view, calling for a jihad against India over Kashmir. Having sown the wind, the Pakistani establishment and its agencies are reaping the whirlwind. Bleeding India may have once seemed a good idea; in hindsight it was a selfdestructive one. An Islamic state whose privations and burdens were to be borne by the Pakistani poor, while their civilian and military overlords enjoyed the privileges of a sumptuous lifestyle within the security of gated compounds was bound to be febrile. The Taliban’s austere playing field is unable to accommodate the establishment’s licence to do as it pleased. A medievalist structure based on public flogging and execution by the bullet and sword has

also no future. Endless round-table chatter is a dialogue of the deaf; it signals to the Pakistani people and the international community the progressive erosion of the Pakistani state. There is no escaping the labyrinth now. All the walled in Kafkaesque prisoners are able to do is wrestle with a situation growing more hopeless by the day. Yet the old nostrums on Kashmir are repeated ad nauseam, as are the absurdities on Pakistan’s need for “strategic depth” in Afghanistan in the eventuality of a war with India. Islamabad clings to Beijing as a swimmer clings to the drifting hull of an abandoned ship. The same can also be said of China’s vaunted relationship with Pakistan. During the recent Sino-Indian security dialogue in New Delhi, media reports told of an expression of Chinese concern at the growing closeness of Indo-Japanese ties. China’s representative was informed that Sino-Indian relations could not be predicated on either country’s ties with a third power – which was China’s response when the issue of Pakistani Islamist activities was raised not so long ago by an Indian interlocutor. What is sauce for the goose must be sauce for the gander. India and Japan are at the top of their game, as they strengthen their regional relationships. China’s rise has been accompanied by a minatory tone in Beijing’s diplomatic demarches in the Asia Pacific neighbourhood.

It is this rather than any American conspiracy that has prompted regional powers to consult with one another on their security interests. Better to be safe than sorry.

There has been much attention given recently to the Maruti Suzuki 800, the first small car model that became the starter’s signal for an economically rejuvenated India. Suzuki was a relatively little known Japanese carmaker, before its Indian venture, which transformed its prospects by giving it new markets in Southeast Asia, Africa and beyond. All this is doubly and trebly true, but the Maruti Suzuki story has somehow got enmeshed in the post-1991 Indian narrative that made the year synonymous with India’s economic liberalization. Much, it seems, has been lost in the telling. Certainly, 1991 remains a seminal date in the economic chronicle, but revisiting the subject one will discover that the truth was more nuanced; that the first baby steps relaxing state controls were taken during Indira Gandhi’s return to power as prime minster in January 1980. Her Economic Reforms Commissioner L.K.Jha chalked out a programme of change and the benefits were soon apparent, as the economy started growing at an approximate yearly 5.5 per cent from the 3.5 per cent

of the two previous decades. It was at this time that Suzuki Maruti entered the Indian scene. In a riveting book, “The Sanjay Story,” by journalist Vinod Mehta, the author tells how the concept of an affordable small car was first mooted in Jawaharlal Nehru’s cabinet in the 1950s by Union minister Manubhai Shah. It was duly incorporated into a policy document in 1959. Industrialist K.C Mahindra of Mahindra & Mahindra also floated the idea of a small car and proposed that the concept be explored, researched and eventually produced. To cut a long story short, Sanjay Gandhi, Indira Gandhi’s son, initiated proceedings with Suzuki, but it was Indira Gandhi herself who got the project off the ground at Gurgaon, where the Marurti plant was set up. Was it a coincidence that Maruti appeared when serious economic reforms first took shape? Foreign investors noted Maruti’s arrival in India and started pitching their own tents in the country. The second tranche of reforms, in 1991, deepened and widened the process.

The rest is history, from which all can learn.

Whither Pakistan? Fiasco of Taliban dialogue

Examining the liberalization myth

3

Sow a thought, reap a deed; sow a deed, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a lifestyle; sow a lifestyle, reap a destiny - Charles Reed

The Brotherhood of Faiths from Turkey to India Last week I explained on the BBC why Turkey will not be admitted to the EU. And the news from Syria continues to sadden. I am reminded of a recent trip to Turkey…

“We’ll show them someday soon, the evidence of truth we are all over the world and to themselves, until light to them, that the Qur’aan is the truth. It not enough that thy Lord is witness over all things. “(Surah Fushshilat: 53).

Dear Prime Minister of Turkey, I prayed to a Hindu God in a Mosque – the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.

I prayed for the children of Syria, your neighbour, being murdered and slaughtered and exterminated and eradicated by your Muslim brother Assad. Prove me seditious for praying to another God on behalf of the children of your faith, because their God has deserted them.

I prayed, that your God, who my faith teaches me is my God too, listens to me in your Mosque, because He does not listen to His own children in their mosques – because surely as they are being murdered their parents pray for salvation – and none comes.

I prayed to Shiv, the destroyer, in your Mosque, that He may become death and the destroyer of worlds…the world of Assad.

(Forgive my impertinence, I confess, my God also fails to listen to the cries of His children in His mandirs.)

I prayed that your blood boils with anger and the wrath of the Lord flow through your veins and you strike down with a mighty vengeance those who harm your children. And should you need friends to stand by you, you can invoke Chapter V of the Nato Treaty, which makes an attack on one Nato member on Nato soil, an attack on all Nato members. Tonight I prayed you realise that Assad has declared war on not just his weak and innocent children, but on the United States of America, the strongest military power in history and that that divine providence gives you strength to act.

What relevance that I am Indian? More Muslims reside in these two secular countries, India and Turkey, than any other secular State – so it is that India and Turkey have a responsibility to the world’s Muslims to show them secular liberal democracies will be their defender. It is a duty and opportunity both countries have yet to grasp. China has more Muslims than Syria, yet China fails to protect Syrian Muslim children. Russia has more Muslims than Jordan and Libya combined – yet Russia too fails to protect Syrian Muslim children. So it is surely left to India and Turkey.

Prove me seditious for praying to another God on behalf of the children of your faith, because their God has deserted them. Prove me your bloodline from Turk to Ottomon.

So show us non-believers, ‘the evidence of truth, that you are all over the world and that it is not enough thy Lord is witness over all thing’s – but that you will save the children of a greater God. When Pope Benedict visited this same Mosque he said, ‘May all believers identify themselves with the one God and bear witness to true brotherhood.’

Tonight I bore witness as a believer in God, make me a believer in Islamic brotherhood.

Prime Minister – you are your brother’s keeper. A Catholic has told you – a Pope no less, a Hindu commoner has told you – both from inside your own Mosque – when will the brotherhood of Islam tell you?

4

MIDLANDS VOICE

Sikh man becomes 2nd male contestant to win on popular show 'Deal Or No Deal'

Leeds: Roop Singh, 54, from Leeds, has become the second male contestant to win the popular television game show 'Deal Or No Deal', hosted by popular presenter Noel Edmonds, receiving 2,50,000 pounds (around $416,000) as his reward. He is the seventh winner overall since the programme was first broadcast eight years ago.

Roop Singh went all the way to the end despite having just five pounds, 100 pounds, 500 pounds, 1,000 pounds and 250,000 pounds in his last five boxes, the channel reportedly said on Wednesday 12th February.

In the game, there would be 22 identical boxes containing randomly assigned sums of money inside ranging from one pound to 250,000 pounds assigned to contestants to choose one from them. As the boxes are opened over a number of rounds, the banker (an unseen person who offers deals to the contestants) makes offers of real money to gain possession of their box.

Contestants can either 'deal' to take the money, or play to the end, settling on the amount in their box.

Roop Singh was joined in the programme, which is also called Dream Factory, by his wife and one of his daughters.

With 250,000 pounds in one box and 500 pounds in the other, Noel revealed

the contents of Roop Singh's box.

Everyone erupted into celebration as the quarter million was shown to be in Roop Singh's box, but the game was still not complete.

The program added a new box, 'Box 23', containing five possible outcomes players can buy 'Box 23' to double their winnings, take home an additional 10,000 pounds, get their money back, half their winnings or leave with nothing.

Sikh fortress turban on display in Gallery

Bradford: The story of the Sikh Fortress Turban will be unravelled at a new display at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery.

The exhibition will explain the importance of the turban as a symbol of the Sikh faith and identity.

It will display a unique Fortress Turban alongside items from Bradford Museums and Galleries' collections and items from the city's Sikh community.

The exhibition will run at the Bradford Councilrun gallery from Saturday, 22 February until Sunday, 18 May. Coun Susan Hinchcliffe, Bradford Council's Executive Member responsible for culture, said: "We are delighted to be able to host this significant exhi-

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

bition, which not only tells an international story of Sikhism but reflects on the community of Sikhs living in Bradford and Yorkshire."

A series of free events at the museum, exploring the history and symbolism of the Sikh faith have been planned. Admission is free but booking is advisable due to limited spaces. To reserve a place please contact 01274 431212 or cartwright.hall@bradford.gov.uk.

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Meaning, the winner could become the show's first contestant to win a record 500,000 pounds or become the biggest loser in the show's history.

Roop Singh felt that four of the five outcomes would have worth purchasing 'Box 23' for. However, his family finally managed to dissuade him.

When the contents of 'Box 23' were revealed, it was found that if Roop Singh had purchased it, he would have doubled his winnings.

Orthodox Sikh on trial for Axe Attack on Namdhari Sikh guru

Leicester: Devout, Orthodox Sikh Harjit Singh Toor, has gone on trial for attacking the spiritual leader of the worldwide Sikh Namdhari community at a Namdhari Gurdwara in Leicester last year.

Toor, 27, attacked leader Sri Satguru Singh Ji, pictured, at the Temple on August 11 in a reported "religiously motivated hate attack", according to prosecutors.

Birmingham Crown Court heard that Sri Satguru suffered a broken arm and facial injuries when Toor attacked him with an Axe hours just hours after the spiritual guru had arrived in the UK. Toor reportedly disguised himself as a Namdhari in a white outfit and turban to gain entry into the temple with a 3 ft axe hidden inside his shawl.

He then stormed toward the podium where Sri Satguru was

addressing an audience and attacked him, proclaiming that he did not believe in a "living guru".

Namdharis believe in a succession of Gurus since Sikhism's creator Guru Gobind Singh passed away, whilst orthodox Sikhs believe that the Guru Granth Sahib - the Sikh holy book - is the ultimate source of wisdom.

Toor reportedly admitted grievous bodily harm with intent but denies attempted murder.

The trial continues.

The Alzheimer's Society in Leicester is piloting a scheme to help people in South Asian communities with dementia.

The information programme aims to give families and the community knowledge, skills and understanding to support people with the condition.

The scheme is being run by Lloyds Banking Group as part of its Live Well charity of the year campaign.

Diane Smith, locality manager for the Alzheimer's Society in Leicestershire and Rutland, reportedly said: "A diagnosis of dementia can be a scary and confusing experience, yet cultural elements such as language and families' close-knit bonds can make it harder for South Asian families to reach out and get information and advice.

"Many people don't know

there's support available to them, let alone how to access it.

This programme provides much-needed guidance and help towards understanding dementia and knowing how to reach for support at the right time." “People from black, Asian and minority ethnic communities are more likely to develop early-onset dementia and have a higher prevalence of vascular dementia than their white British counterparts. They also tend to access dementia services later, which can have a negative impact on families as they may have struggled for some time without support."

Scheme provides help to Asians suffering from dementia

Police hunting Birmingham jihadist despite CIA reports that he is dead

Birmingham: West Midlands Police have issued an arrest warrant for Rashid Rauf, pictured, who is suspected of killing his uncle in 2002, despite there being reports that he was Rashid was killed by a drone strike in 2008.

Father of two Mohammed Saeed, 54, was repeatedly stabbed in the stomach during a violent knife assault nearby his home 12 years ago. The delivery driver was attacked as he arrived at his home in Washwood Heath after work at around 4.15am on April 24, 2002. He collapsed and died in front of his wife and two children and was declared dead at the scene in Clodeshall Road.

West Midlands Police murder squad detectives set out to question his nephew Rashid Rauf about an alleged family feud which may have been linked to Mr Saeed’s death. But before he could be brought in for questioning Rauf fled to Pakistan where he soon became close with jihadists after marrying into the family of an extremist cleric.

The Plymouth University drop-out, who was brought up in Alum Rock, became the Pakistani ‘handler’ for the London underground 7/7 bombers and their success saw him trusted with masterminding Al Qaeda’s most audacious plot since 9-11.

Though attempts were made to bring Rauf back to the UK, he managed to break free from Pakistani custody and was thought to have fled back to the lawless tribal areas of North Western Pakistan, a stronghold of the Taliban and Jaish-eMohammed, and beyond the reach of the authorities.

It was there that he was allegedly killed by a pilotless American drone aircraft on November 22 2008.

Patrick Mercer, MP for Newark and former Shadow Minister for Homeland Security, said: “It truly is a bizarre set of circumstances when a local police force is in effect issuing a warrant for a ghost.�

He added: “We will probably never know the truth of where, how and exactly why Rashid Rauf was killed.�

Police open murder case for man who disappeared in 2007 Bradford: A murder investigation has been opened into the disappearance of Sajid Saddique, from Bradford, seven years ago.

Saddique, from Allerton in Bradford, has not been seen since the morning of 14 February 2007 when he attended a business meeting.

West Yorkshire Police said new evidence has surfaced which suggested he had been murdered.

A 62-year-old man and a 45-year-old man have been arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice.

The two arrested men, from Bradford and Halifax, are in custody, police said.

Det Insp Steve Snow reprotedly said: "I believe there are people out there (who) without a doubt know what happened to Sajid and in fact where Sajid's body was taken following the murder."

Mr Saddique was last seen in the Asda car park in Manor Road, Shipley, at about 10:00 GMT that day in 2007. He had been wearing a distinctive, diamond-encrusted Cartier watch.

Bullied teaching assistant keeps beard after being baptised a Sikh

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

23-year-old Harnaam Kaur, from Slough, Berkshire, has a condition which causes excessive hair development all over her body. She suffers from polycystic ovary syndrome – which made her start growing a beard when she was just 11 years old.

The hair quickly spread to her chest and arms, and the condition made her the victim of attacks at school and on the street. She even received death threats from strangers over the internet. But recently, Miss Kaur has now decided to stop cutting her hair after being baptised as a Sikh.

She reportedly said: ‘I

would never ever go back now and remove my facial hair because it's the way God made me and I'm happy with the way I am.

I feel more feminine, more sexy and I think I look it too. I've learned to love

myself for who I am nothing can shake me now.’

During her early teenage years, Miss Kaur was so embarrassed of her beard that she tried all types of hair removing procedures. But the hair

became thicker and spread - with Miss Kaur feeling so self-conscious that she refused to leave her house. She even began self-harming and she considered suicide.

But at the age of 16, everything changed for Miss Kaur when she decided to be baptised as a Sikh. It meant she would have to let her facial hair grow out. She now embraces the thick hair on her face and chest.

Miss Kaur hopes her story will help other women find self-confidence. She has decided to share her story on YouTube - and continues to upload videos despite receiving death threats.

HMRC announces crackdown on music industry

Britain's HMRC is set to crackdown on music industry that is reportedly exploiting interns and not paying salary. Major record labels involved in this year's Brit Awards are among the latest targets of Revenue and Customs' (HMRC) crackdown on unpaid internships.

Last year the HMRC fined over around 800 employers.

Michelle Wyer, HMRC's assistant director, National Minimum Wage said, "Non-payment of the National Minimum Wage is not an option, it's the law, and we're letting the music industry know that we've got them in our sights. If they are not playing by the rules, now is the time to put things in order.''

Employment relations min-

ister Jenny Willott reportedly said, "So our message is clear: if you are not paying your interns, but should be, come forward now and put things right to avoid a penalty,"

UK

Seven out of 10 voters say no to Immigration

A survey has revealed that seven out of ten voters want immigration reduced or stopped completely.

The YouGov survey, released on Saturday 15th February, found strong public concern about immigration, with people saying only the economy will be more important in the 2015 general election.

The poll also revealed six out of ten people believe it is essential that migrants should be able to speak English, while 67 per cent think British people should be given priority for jobs.

According to the ONS, there are now 785,000 adults in the UK who are ‘non-proficient’ in English.

The poll was conducted for the Channel 5’s The Big British Immigration

Row: Live, which was screened on Tuesday 18th February.

The poll also found 42 per cent of all respondents said immigration will be ‘important’ in deciding how they vote, putting the issue ahead of crime, the NHS, welfare, housing and Europe. Some 42 per cent of those surveyed also feel that immigration is bad for the economy, compared to 25 per cent who said it was good.

Campaigners said the government must now listen and take firmer steps to reduce the number of incomers.

Channel 5’s director of programming, Ben Frow reportedly said: ‘These survey results demonstrate that immigration is at the top of the agenda in today’s Britain.’

NHS Figures: Doctors receive £3,000 per shift In certain struggling NHS A&E departments across the country, standby doctors are being paid in excess of £1,000 per shift while consultants received more than £3,000 and nurses up to £1,600, reported figures have shown.

Doctors are being paid as much as £3,000 per shift by NHS hospitals to fill reported “endemic” staff shortages in Accident & Emergency units. According to the figures, the highest single amount spent was by Wye Valley NHS Trust, in Herefordshire, which paid £3,717 for one doctor to work a 30-hour shift last

WE’RE HERE TO September. Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals Foundation Trust paid out £3,027 for a locum doctor to work one 24-hour shift.

Sowing and Reaping for a decade 14th of February was Valentine’ day but it was also the tenth anniversary of Sow & Reap.

Impressive when you consider statistics say 90 - 94% (depending on which one you read) of companies fail to survive for ten years.

The company started as a mortgage company from the sitting room of the founder’ parents’home in February 2004.

Come 2008 being a finance company wasn’ really a good business to be in due to the credit crunch in 2007. Many broker firms went out of business.

During this time Sow & Reap’ income stream had dried up, as many banks withdrew from the lending market, but of course that didn’ stop the bills coming in.

As time went on the company was digging a deeper and deeper hole as rent and many other bills were mounting up.

The reason why they survived during this period was because of the goodwill they had built up with their creditors when times

were good. The creditors knew come rain or shine their bills would be honoured, even if it took some time to do so.

This was a difficult time, and one where a decision had to be made as to which course the company should take. The decision was literally to innovate or go down. It was at this time when a decision was made to change the focus of the company from being finance based to one where the focus was property.

The company chose to sail in a different direction, one where it sources deals for its clients.

They started off with ex local authority flats in Central London locations which gave massive yields.

Since then they have organised syndicate investments for high end properties, and have launched their first ever property fund concentrating on flipping properties; investors have already seen a rise of 10% in only two and a half months.

There is already talk of a second fund for £40m in the pipeline.

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www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

New NHS medical records database could pose privacy risk

Sparks @ LSE Spriha Srivastava

Sparks@LSE, hosted by the LSE SU Entrepreneurs Society, is London's most prestigious student-run entrepreneurship conference.

The latest one will be held on Saturday 22nd February at their beautiful campus.

Attracting over 250 students from around the world, it will be led by high-profile speakers, notably successful entrepreneurs themselves, and will include lectures, networking sessions, panel discussions, and interactive workshops.

Some of the big names in the conference include Dinesh Dhamija - Founder of Ebookers, Jay Bregman– CoFounder and CEO of

Hailo, Avid LarizadehCo-Founder and COO of Boticca, Ambarish MitraFounder of Blippar and Andrew Garner- Former CEO of Boyden World Corporation and currently mentor to several globally high profile CEO’s including FTSE 100 companies.

The event aims to give an overview of how to turn one's ideas into a thriving business. In addition, the audience will be able to gain industry-specific advice from some of the most influential minds in their sectors as well as obtain a credible insight into the current issues within the business community.

The day includes an

extremely interesting panel session named “What do Venture Capitalists Look For?” The panel includes Guy Fraser-Sampson - Senior Fellow, Cass Business School, author of ‘Private Equity as an Asset Class’ and former investor with leading US venture firms, Marco Geninazza - Founder of Find Invest Grow (Venture Capital Firm) and James Wise Principal at Balderton Capital (Venture Capital Firm).

The event is by registration only with a limited Early Bird Tickets only £8 so don't miss out on the first few!

Standard tickets cost £10.

London Business School as part of its 11th Annual India Business Forum is organising a half day conference that will bring together thought and business leaders in a provocative discussion on the relevance of India in the current environment.

Since early 2012, Indian GDP growth has been slowing, inflation, trade and fiscal deficits rising, and the rupee depreciating. The discussion at the forum will seek to answer questions

facing business leaders and global investors: Can Indian companies compete in the global arena given rising costs, slow progress in infrastructure and a challenging political environment in which to do business? With the resurgence of the US economy, stronger performance of other BRICs and emergence of MINT countries, is India still relevant?

Key note speakers include Aditya Mittal, CFO of the ArcelorMittal Group and CEO of

ArcelorMittal in Europe, and Vindi Banga, Operating Partner of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, and former Executive Board Member of Unilever. The two panels will be moderated by LBS professors Lynda Gratton and Rajesh Chandy, and will explore the perspective of both insiders and global actors.

Seating is limited so grab your tickets now.

Log on to http://www.indiabusinessforum.net/ for more.

London-based Aks performing arts group is back yet again with another wonderful performance – this time love is in the air. Keeping in line with the romantic and wintery feel of February, their latest play called Romantic Fools was a houseful performance at Courtyard Theatre in Shoreditch.

Directed by Neha Jain, the play featured Nadya Shaw Bennett as ‘Nadya’ and James John Bryant as ‘James’ in a two-handler where the duo plays a series of different roles – through a range of bad dates, to one that finally leads to a relationship and culminates in marriage.

The extremely talented cast along with a wonderful set of technicians brought the set to life.

The audience applauded each mini-act in this comic revue, and rewarded the actors with a thun-

derous cheer at the end of the evening.

Time and again AKS, a group of London-based amateur artists who miraculously find time and energy despite their heavy duty day jobs, leave audiences spell-

Net and Neil Simon’s Rumours – each of these scripts was adopted by the group and made into their own.

Path-breaking creations such as Winter Cocktail, scripted in Hindi and English and staged with a foursided audience; collaborating with Tower Theatre Company to re-create Merchant I v o r y ’ s Shakespearewallah; and Mountain Echoes, an original audio drama, were instrumental in garnering popularity and critical acclaim.

Overall, this play was a hit among the audiences who left the hall discussing the stories with one another.

What a wonderful way to end the play, leaving the audiences bewildered and speechless. For those of you missed it, wait for next one!

Is India still relevant?

Love is in the air

bound with their wonderful performances.

The group was born of love and passion of a close-knit team in 2009.

Past work includes Mahesh Dattani’s 30 days in September, Ray Cooney’s Caught in the

Let us know what you think.

Email Spriha at aveditorial@abplgroup.com

not be kept confidential.

Information about past illnesses, medication, weight and blood pressure will be taken from medical files next month and put into a central database.

Health researchers and private firms will be able to access data from the records if they can demonstrate it will benefit patient care or enable further scientific advances.

All 26 illion households in England are being notified about the Care.data scheme, so

that individuals can choose to opt out. Those behind the £50 illion datasharing plan say it will improve healthcare and help medical research.

However, opposition has been heard from family doctors and privacy campaigners, who have raised fears that data could be misused.

Home Office data has revealed that in 2012/2013, 602 appeals were allowed by the immigration courts, including 324 criminals allowed to stay in Britain because of their right to a family life These figures give fuel to critics who can accuse Theresa May, pictured, the Home Secretary, of failing to crack down on human rights abuses by foreign criminals.

A record number of foreign criminals won appeals against deportation on human rights grounds last year in a major reversal to the

G o v e r n m e n t ’ s tough stance on immigration. They included 324 criminals who won the right to stay in Britain under the controversial “right to private and family life” set out in Article 8 of the European

Convention on Human Rights.

The total included 113 offenders who were convicted of serious or violent offences, including murder, manslaughter, rape, indecent assault and child sexual abuse. In 2012-13, three foreign criminals convicted of murder or manslaughter won appeals on human rights grounds – the highest figure on record.

The overall number of appeals recorded by foreign criminals also reached a record high last year with 2,329 cases, up 36 per cent year on year.

The number of British children groomed and trafficked for sexual abuse by gangs has soared by 155 per cent, National Crime Agency data shows.

In 2013, police identified 450 potential child victims who were either smuggled into the country or moved around by crime gangs. Of those, 56 were British children suspected of being trafficked for sexual exploitation – more than double the number in 2012.

According to the NCA report, the number of foreign children seen as at risk of sexual exploitation rose 11 per cent, to 88.

Another 123 minors were thought to have been brought to the UK for forced labour, often in nail bars and drugs farms, a

quarter more than the previous year. The report found that children from Vietnam were the most commonly targeted, followed by Albania and then the UK. Human trafficking referrals increased by 47 per cent between 2012 and 2013, with a total of 1,746 suspected victims from 112 countries.

Nearly two-thirds of those

were female.

Police have also seen a spike in women being taken here and forced to work as prostitutes, with 563 reported victims in 2013, up 53 per cent on the previous year. Many victims have been brought to the UK illegally with the promise of a job only to be forced into prostitution or cannabis cultivation.

Patient confidentiality could be undermined by the new medical records database, the NHS’s own risk analysis team have warned. The database could be open to hackers or could be used to identify patients “maliciously”, the document, reportedly, states.

The risk analysis also says that the scheme could damage public confidence in the NHS and result in patients withholding information from doctors out of fear it may

Alarming number of Foreign criminals appealing to stay in UK

155% soar in number of children groomed by sex gangs

Muslim prisoners ‘threatened to kill guard’ in wake of Lee Rigby's death Three Muslim inmates took a prison officer hostage and threatened to kill him unless their demands were met, a court heard on Monday 17th February.

David Watson, Fuad Awale and Feroz Khan attacked prison officer Robert Thompson and locked him in a room for four and a half hours in a planned operation amid heightened tensions following the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby, Woolwich Crown Court

was told.

Mr Khan, 26, allegedly punched Mr Thompson as he entered a secure cleaning office in a communal area on E Wing of Full Sutton Prison, North Yorkshire, after evening meals, the jury heard.

The defendants each deny one charge of false imprisonment. Mr Khan denies one count of grievous bodily harm against Mr Thompson, one of threatening to kill him and one of actual bod-

ily harm against another guard, Rachel Oxtoby.

Mr Awale also denies one count of threatening to kill the guard.

The three men allegedly demanded that Abu Qatada, the radical preacher, and another prisoner, Roshonara Choudhry, be released and flown to Afghanistan. They told negotiators that they wanted their demands broadcast by the media, the court was told.

The trial continues.

BE CLEAR ON CANCER…

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

There’s no doubt that everyone knows something about ‘The Big C’ and sadly it is inevitable that most people will know at least one person in their lifetime that has had cancer.

However the good news is that as research continues, new treatments are developed that are helping people to beat cancer every day. Most importantly knowing the symptoms and early diagnosis increases the chances of surviving cancer.

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers, and surprisingly, the biggest risk factor, after gender, is age. Did you know that over 80% of breast cancers occur in women over the age of 50 - and of those diagnosed, a third of them are over the age of 70?

Statistics show that South Asian women diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK have poorer relative survival rates than white women. While the reasons for this aren’t entirely clear, the most likely cause could be delays in diagnosis. Think about it for one minute… would your mother, grandmother or aunt, for example, ever openly discuss a health problem, and would she even know what signs to look for?

We need to break down the barriers and start talking about breast cancer with the older women in our families. The sooner a patient is diagnosed and treatment started, the better the chance they have of beating breast cancer… so that means women

Dr Afsana Safa

need to know what signs and symptoms to look out for, where to go and who to speak to.

We caught up with Dr Afsana Safa - a GP at the Marylebone Health Centre, to find out more about breast cancer…

Q: What are the symptoms of breast cancer that women should be looking for?

A: Most people assume that the only thing to look for is a lump in the breast, but actually the other possible signs of breast cancer that you should look for also include: l Changes in the nipples l Changes to the skin of your breast l Changes in the shape or size of your breast l Pain or tenderness in your breast or armpit Q: What treatments are available?

A: Treatment largely depends on the type of breast cancer the

patient has. Surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy are all used to treat these cancers. A specialist would advise of the best treatment plan.

If picked up early, the treatment for women over 70 years old can be relatively straightforward. Many women won’t even need to stay overnight in hospital because surgery could take the form of a day case procedure. Early diagnosis will also reduce the likelihood of needing a mastectomy and may prevent the need for chemotherapy.

Q: Why do Asian women delay in going to their GP? A: There are so many issues, fears and taboos that are ingrained into our culture. Some of these are based on respect and maintaining a woman’s dignity.

They are also a generation that don’t like going to the doctor, they feel that talking about cancer is almost tempting fate, they don’t want to be a burden, or they simply think that things will get better in their own time.

If the younger generations don’t talk to their mothers, mothers-in-law, aunts about the symptoms, then the women at greater risk will not take action.

We need to change all of these attitudes, including the belief that cancer is an automatic death sentence. That is no longer the case and the fact is the sooner you go to the doctor and receive treatment, the better your chances of survival.

Britain's future King pledges to destroy ivory in Palace

Prince William

Prince William has reportedly called for the destruction of all stocks of ivory products in Buckingham Palace's collection, including exotic thrones from India.

The future King of Britain, had strongly endorsed the recently concluded Illegal Wildlife conference in London which agreed that key actions must be taken to stop illegal wildlife trade.

The conference, which was chaired by Britain's foreign secretary William Hague, was attended by various world leaders from over 40 nations, who vowed to help save iconic species from the brink of extinction.

It is believed the Buckingham palace has 1,200 items within its collection containing ivory, including thrones from India that incorporate elephant-ivory plaques.

The collection includes fans, miniatures and furniture.

Celebrating 20th Anniversary of the campaign to save Bhaktivedanta Manor

Asian Voice newspaper is putting together a special souvenir magazine in observance of the 20th Anniversary of the campaign to save Bhaktivedanta Manor.

This culminated in with the famous march of over 30,000 Hindus, Jains and Sikhs uniting against this decision by the Council on 16th March 1994. The 20th Anniversary event celebrating of the Campaign will be held this March in the House of Commons, organised by the Asian Voice.

If you have offered valuable support to the Campaign to Save Bhaktivedanta Manor in those years, we would be grateful if you can share a few of your memories in English with the Asian Voice readers, of about 150-200 words. It will be published under your name.

Your message could include your involvement, memorable moments and a comment on the unity it brought to the various communities in coming together to save Bhaktivedanta Manor.

Deadline: Friday 28 Feb 2014.

Email your message to aveditorial@abplgroup.com.

UK

Meet Bunshri Chandaria

Here’s living proof that there is life after breast cancer.

At just 50, Bunshri enjoys travelling and photography, but a few years ago her life was thrown off-balance when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Bunshri began to experience regular and unexplained bouts of extreme exhaustion and feeling drained. In addition, she also noticed her left breast feeling very hard and tender to touch. But when the tenderness, discomfort and fatigue failed to ease Bunshri Chandaria over time, she decided to speak to her doctor.

Her GP recommended that she immediately see a specialist consultant… Bunshri remembers the meeting with the consultant. “My husband was there for moral support. The diagnosis was a shock, and it was just as well we had pen and paper to write down and process all the information he gave us”.

Bunshri had a lumpectomy within a few days of diagnosis and followed this with six weeks of radiotherapy.

In addition to this she discovered Breast Cancer Haven, a support group for breast cancer patients.

As Bunshri’s cancer was detected early, she was able to continue leading a full life: “You always think cancer will happen to someone else and never to you.”

Her advice to others is simple: “Listen to your body and if something doesn’t feel right, go and see your GP at once.

Don’t think you are wasting their time. The sooner you can be treated the better”.

For more information visit: www.nhs.uk/breastcancer70

Lettings Manager Vacancy

We are a Central London based firm looking for an experienced and results driven person to manage our growing lettings department.

We are looking for someone who has the ability and experience to successfully manage the department and all related aspects of this business with the highest customer service standards. You need to be willing to get involved and take care of anything that needs to be taken care of and not be afraid of hard work.

Your role will include, but not be limited to: Liaising with tenants and landlords; arranging and attending viewings; property inspections, dealing with maintenance issues; ensuring minimal void periods and managing any arrears issues; ensuring the rental software and files are up to date and correct; adhering to all legal requirements; and following correct policies and procedures.

We are looking for somebody with integrity, who is honest and hardworking, self-motivated, customer focused, highly competent, completely committed and happy to work on their own, and can take complete responsibility for the work they take on.

You will:

Ideally have two years lettings experience Be highly organised and deadline driven Have strong communication skills Take pride in your customer service and have strong work ethic l Perform exceptionally under pressure l Have strong initiative and extremely good telephone manner l Be wanting to join a company with which to grow ong term l l l l

If you fit this description, please email your cv to cv@propertycompany.org.uk, along with a brief outline of why you feel you are suitable for this role. We will only respond to candidates who we choose to select for interview.

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UK

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

Growing danger of terrorist threat with 250 jihadis returning to UK An alarming disclosure of the number of Britishbased jihadis who went to train and fight in Syria but now have returned home, revealed on Sunday 16th February, has highlighted the full extent of the terrorist threat Britain faces today.

Senior security officials have reportedly said that the high number of “returnees” — five times the figure that has been previously reported — underlines the growing danger posed by “extremist tourists” going to the war-torn region.

Ministers have been told that over the past two years more than 400 British-based extremists have gone to Syria.

Around 20 Britons have since been killed in the

fighting, leaving more than 100 who are thought to be still in Syria.

MI5 and Police have already thwarted one serious plot last autumn by a cell of “returnee” jihadis who were allegedly preparing a Mumbaistyle gun attack on civilians, possibly in a crowded public place in London.

Most of the 400 who have travelled to Syria have been based in terrorist camps in northern Syria, some within 40 miles of the poorly guarded border with Turkey.

There they train with hundreds of other European volunteers including many from France, Germany and Holland. The camps, run

by extremist affiliates of al-Qaeda, give them access to weapons and training.

The security services are closely monitoring the 250 returnees, who include several veteran hardliners who have fought in Afghanistan or Pakistan. They are suspected of wanting to carry out attacks here or of inciting others to do so.

The Charity Commission said it was monitoring nine Islamic groups that have been collecting money for Syrian aid or are otherwise involved providing relief. Tens of thousands of pounds has already been seized from relief vehicles traveling from the UK to Syria.

Ministers’ tough drug policy could discriminate the elderly

The Department of Health has told the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to reassess the way it decides the cost-effectiveness of drugs.

Under the ‘hard-nosed’ plans by ministers, which prioritise those patients who contribute to the economy, the elderly would largely miss out and be denied new medicine.

The NICE has rejected these plans to take “wider societal benefit” into account when considering whether to pay for a drug, the Times has reported.

According to the NICE, they warn that drugs that helped middleaged men would be judged as having the greatest

social value because they earn most, while a drug that helped people to live longer in an expensive care home would have a “negative” social value because such patients take more from society than they can put back.

But the Department of Health has instructed NICE to overhaul the way it assesses the cost-effectiveness of drugs to take into account the benefits that successful treatments have on society, for example by allowing people to return to work. Ministers insist that they would not allow the elderly to be discriminated against.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director of Age UK, also backed NICE,

reportedly saying: “It is wrong to regard older people as a burden to society and just ignore the contribution they have made throughout their life.

Assessments of older people must be based on their

individual needs and health status.

Anything else is blatant age discrimination.”

The Department of Health reportedly said: “We have asked NICE to look at the way drugs are assessed so that patients can get the treatments they need at the best value for the NHS, and the price the NHS pays is more closely linked to the value a medicine brings. We understand that it’s an important and complex issue, on which many people will have views, and NICE will be consulting widely on the proposals.”

Alarming increase in Muslim women traveling to Syria for marriage Following on from the arrest of British student, Nawal Msaad, (pictured) 26 at Heathrow last month, after she was caught allegedly carrying £16,500 to give to a fighter in Syria, there is increasing concern that many other British women are traveling to Syria in alarming numbers to marry jihadists as the civil war radicalises Muslim societies across Europe.

Two women from Portsmouth - one from London and one from Surrey - are known to have already married English-speaking rebels fighting in Syria, and it is believed that dozens more are already there or are trying to follow them.

Other women from

France, Sweden, Belgium and Serbia, have also traveled to Syria with similar intent, according to researchers at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King’s College London.

Shiraz Maher, one of those analysing the movement, said the number of British women known to have married fighters was almost certainly an underestimate, and many more were seeking to contact British jihadists in Syria through online forums.

“The thing that is interesting is the staggering extent to which so many women are asking questions. We think it is pretty significant,”

he reportedly said.

He added that there were unconfirmed reports of jihadists marrying on the internet, through Skype — allowing Muslim women to travel alone, which would otherwise not be

permissible.

As many as 250 British men have already returned from fighting in Syria and another 150 are thought to be fighting there now — raising concerns among the security services that some could try to carry out acts of terrorism in the UK on their return.

Charles Lister, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, said that many women contacting British jihadists appeared to see them as living a “perfect life” and wanted to share it.

Foreign workers forced to speak english or face the sack

Foreign workers for the arts and craft company Hobbycraft have been told to speak English or face the prospect of being fired.

Staff were congregated in a meeting this week at the distribution warehouse in Burton-uponTrent, Staffordshire, after difficulties arose with different nationalities conversing only in their native tongue.

Staff were told the firm’s policy was they should only use English during work hours and, if caught doing otherwise, they could be disciplined.

Chris Fenlon, people director for Hobbycraft, reportedly said: 'Having the ability to speak English is part of the recruitment criteria in our distribution centre, how-

ever within the social areas colleagues can speak all languages. Therefore, we do ask that during working hours in the warehouse colleagues speak English. This is to create a good working environment where all colleagues can communicate effectively.'

But one Polish worker, who asked not to be named for fear of repercussions, said that she thought the move was 'silly'. She reportedly said: 'Our managers forbid us from speaking to others in any language but English.

Slater & Gordon law firm have warned that the move could land bosses in hot water as the policy could be indirectly discriminatory and could lead to compensation claims.

Cardiff University student Ali Bunney, pictured, 20, who was walking the 9 mile stretch to his girlfriends home in Gloucestershire on Saturday night, was found dead on Sunday after being found unconscious at the side of the road suffering from hypothermia.

The Economics and Accounting undergraduate student is believed to have left his coat behind because he did not want to pay cloakroom fees at a club in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, on Saturday night.

The Cardiff University student’s mobile phone was not working, and after becoming separated from friends, he is believed to have set off walking just after 2am last Sunday,

wearing a shirt but no jacket.

When he was found unconscious by a dog walker the following afternoon, his body temperature was 22C. He had been at a friend’s 21st birthday dinner and had been looking forward to celebrating his own in a few weeks’ time.

Gloucestershire Airport’s fire crew fought to revive Mr Bunney, and he was taken to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital where medics fought for three hours to save his life.

Student dies from hypothermia after walking 9 miles in cold

Tory MP tells PM to curb 'stop and search' against ethnic minorities Senior Tory MP Charles Walker has reportedly told PM David Cameron that he has “a moral duty” to curb the “humiliating” use of stop and search against black and Asian people by the police.

Sure to increase the existing cabinet tensions over the police’s use of the power, Charles Walker, the vice-chairman of the influential Tory 1922 committee, wrote to the prime minister last week to demand that he support plans by Theresa May, the home secretary, to stop the “injustice”.

Theresa May’s plans

to liberalise the regime by reducing the number of stops and targeting them better were set to be announced before Christmas, but are being blocked by Cameron's advisers at No. 10. May has realised that the right of police to stop anyone they suspect of criminal conduct causes too much resentment.

But Cameron’s advisers, including Lynton Crosby, the Tories’ election strategist, and his key political adviser, Patrick Rock, argue that the reforms may make the Conservatives appear “soft on crime”.

UK

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

Leading Lights

Rani Singh, Special Assignments Editor

Successful Young Nepali Entrepreneur on Narendra Modi, India and Britain 33-year old Rajen Kandel is the MD of South London College and the CEO of The British College in Kathmandu. He is Vice Chair of the Britain -Nepal Chamber of Commerce.

Rajen arrived in the UK in 1999 to study at 18.

As a student, he worked in restaurants. He completed a degree in Computing from the University of Greenwich. He started a career in IT, and then expanded into business with his brothers with a small training college in 2004. Since then he has developed the conglomerate to include pharmacies, education, media, restaurants, supermarket, properties, and the list is growing.

Rajen is different to older Nepalis. He told me that he learnt a lot by doing a degree in the UK. “I got so many opportunities in this country which I wouldn’t have got in Nepal. Traditionally, the Nepalese served in the British army (Gurkhas) and worked in the restau-

Rajen Kandel

rant sector. But I would like to create a new identity for our community.

There are growing entrepreneurs in the Nepalese community from our young generation.”

South London College offers various qualifications from Basic ESOL, HNC/HNC to degrees.

“We are currently working in partnership with Leeds Metropolitan University for degree programmes.

I have also set up another premium college in Nepal called “The British College” which offers UK degrees in Nepal in partnership with Leeds Metropolitan University

and the University of the West of England (UWE).

Students will get a UK degree and it has been recognized and approved by the relevant authorities in Nepal.”

Rajen observes that the British Nepalese community is growing and progressing quickly. “The Nepalese are known for being honest, loyal and hardworking. They have a strong connection with Britain as they served in the British Army. The new entrepreneurs run restaurants and recently businesses have expanded to travel, law, accountancy, education, and grocery retail. There are a number of working professionals in finance, health and catering. The Nepalese are loved by the British public and we share the same values with the Indian community, culturally and religiously.”

He works closely with Indians; “I have many business colleagues from the Indian community and we were running an office in India. I am planning to expand my education business in India too.

India has a big influence in Nepalese politics.

India is one of Nepal’s biggest donors and trading partners. India needs Nepal to be stable and economically strong so that it will have strong allies next door. It is in

India’s best interest to have a stable neighbour.

Until now Indian policies has been trial and error in Nepal which have generated some anti- Indian feelings, despite the two countries having so much in common. Hopefully, Narendra Modi’s party is more aware about the common values that the two countries share.”

“I would like to create a new identity for our community.

There are growing entrepreneurs in the Nepalese community from our young generation”

Rajen would like to see the British Nepali community successful and fully integrated. “The Nepalese community is relatively new and it has a lot to learn from the Indian community that has been in this country for a long time. It has been through the same things that the Nepalese community is going through.”

Trade-wise, Rajen sees potential as Nepal is going through a transition. “It is relatively safer to invest in Nepal now, rather than 10 years ago. As Vice Chairman of the BritainNepal Chamber of Commerce, I have been

promoting investment opportunities in Nepal.

Business opportunities in Nepal are still not exploited. There are many opportunities, as well as less competition in Nepal. I urge Indian/British investors to get into Nepal before other multinational companies do. Nepal needs investment in hydropower, infrastructure development, modern agriculture and tourism.”

The links with India are crucial, he feels.

“Nepal and India enjoy visa - free open borders.

India needs to help Nepal to have stable government and support it in its economic development. The current speculation of the Nepalese people is that Indian foreign policy in Nepal is not helping Nepal, making it an unstable country.”

Rajen works closely with various Nepalese community organizations, such as Non Resident Nepalis and the Chamber of Commerce. He donates in the education and health sectors in Nepal directly; for instance, building schools in remote Nepal, donating hard- toget medicines from the UK, and providing scholarships. He is also setting up a charity wing in his Kandel group. This firebrand is an innovative agenda-setter for Asians in Britain.

Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar have an excellent record in publishing theme based special issues besides the two newsweeklies. In 2013 we published British Punjabis, Finance, Banking and Insurance, Diwali Special, Asian Achievers Awards, Asian House and Home from our UK offices and from India offices we published several special issues such as Rajkot, Anand (Charotar), Vadodara, Medical Tourism, to name a few.

Asian Business Publications special issues are not only full of informations but they are also preserved by a large number of readers as a resource for future use.

We have been approached by several readers to put together a very informative and useful special issues on:

a. British Lohanas

b. Leicester Special

We have been preparing on these projects for some time. These special issues will provide attractive reads for individuals in London, Leicester and other places.

Research based writers and marketing and advertising personnels are much needed for the above projects. If you think you are able to embark on an additional career, full time/part time, you are invited to write to L. George, Chief Operating Officer on george@abplgroup.com.

9

10

YOUR VOICE

Defending Hinduism

It is common sense on the part of Penguin to withdraw Wendy Doniger’s book ‘The Hindus: an Alternative History ‘and destroy its stock.

The book is written by a Christian professor at the University of Chicago's divinity school, who is a fundamental Christian.

In the name of alternative History the Wendy Doniger's has been criticised for ‘heresies and factual accuracies’ and in the name of alternative history she has taken every opportunity to denounc the Hindu gods and freedom fighters of India.

Doniger is being motivated by a ‘Christian missionary zeal and hidden agenda to denigrate Hindus’. Doniger has stated that RSS as the BJP’s militant wing and RSS was responsible of killing Mahatma Gandhi which is not true.

It is disgraceful on the party of left wing Hindu writers like Arundhati Ray, Advita Kala and the newspaper ‘Times of India’ to condemn Hindus showing a Victorian hangover with Taliban temperaments’.

When it comes to Muslims, nobody has the right to criticise their religion.

Even though Hindus are in majority in India, ‘satanic Verses’ by Salmon Rushdie was banned in India and Muslims wanted to kill him.

Since Jesus was portrayed as a married person in ‘Di Vinci Code’ the book and the film was banned in some parts of of India since it was considered ‘Blasphemous’ and would hurt the sentiments of Christians. If one writes an alternative view on Christianity or Islam the books are banned in India.

The documentary in Channel four on the alternative history of Islam was banned after the first show and the producer received threats from Islamists.

Non-Muslims are not allowed to write or say anything against Islam. Hindus did not send any threat to Doniger and only went to the court to ban the book and pulp it. The fact is Indian HINDUS are zombies.

Arun Vaidyanathan By email

Jainism

Jains do not need any privileges accorded to minorities. We are well able to look after ourselves. Our thinking must be long term and not just about accrued privileges.

Hindu unity is far more important than any gains which may be made from being given minority status. The opinion of the Jain community was not sought; the decision to give minority status was imposed upon it.

I remember reading a Gujarati book some years ago by Acharya Chandrashekharji in which he wrote something to the effect that it is a sin even to think of Jains as non - Hindus.

Scholars like him know more about Jainism than the few self - appointed leaders who, in collusion with Congress, decided to try to drive a wedge between Hindus and Jains.

Authors need to be factually correct

Under the guise of scholarly study academics like Chicago University's Wendy Doniger are blatantly writing offensive and factually incorrect books.

Legal action in India resulted in an out of court settlement by Penguin (India) leading it to withdraw her book "The Hindus" in India. It was not banned by the Indian government, unlike Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses. Wendy's paymasters website Chicago University Divinity School mission page quotes "ministry students become priest's and chaplains" "prepare students for service of churches".

Studies of Hindus by such bodies lack a certain credibility. The Oxford Center of Hindu Studies invited her as a guest speaker which I thought was insensitive and naive. Promoting such studies will put off the next generation of Hindus from their own dharma, misleading them at best.

A glance at the Upanishads will show how logical and well argued each and every Hindu thought is, and is not just a matter of faith. The same thinkers founded Hindu numerals, mathematics and Sanskrit, a mathematically precise language.

If Wendy cannot defend her book in an Indian court, refused all invitations to a open debate with Vedic scholars, then Hindus should seek to get her book removed from sale worldwide. Relying on Western academics sometimes is akin to asking an Islamic scholar to explain Hinduism to Hindus.

Jayesh A Patel Wimbledon

Is Third Front viable

Come general election, Tom, Dick and Harry harbour the ambition to be top dog, Wazir e Alam, PM of India, by forging a hotchpotch of an unlikely alliance of regional minnows with extreme left-wing ideology, more loyal to China than motherland Bharat. Their only common purpose is to keep BJP and Congress out by any means, fair or foul.

Mamata Banerjee, Jayalalita, Nitish Kumar, Naveen Patnaik and many more have already thrown their names in the hat to be PM if “Third Front” succeeds.

In reality such administration does not last long and makes India weak and corrupt, as politicians would try to swell their bank-balance in the short time-span available before they are thrown out.

There is no alternative to BJP/Modi who is on personal odyssey with ancient wisdom, an oasis of enlightenment.

Congress is without conscious, prudence, in bunker of despair with loot mentality, hunger for money and dynastic stranglehold.

Sonia has done more harm in ten years than British did over 200 years. She even turned likeable, patriotic, brilliant economist Manmohan Singh into a brainless puppet who is eagerly looking forward to his retirement.

Subscribe Today Suriakant Shah Croydon

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

Asian Voice in UK for only £27.50 for one year

Praising UK’s youth

Is it a Kissinger Event?

Vila Fatania and candid like minded youngsters need praise and immediate response. Every generation armed with curiosity, energy, latest accessories, gadgets and liberalist peer group considers elders as outdated dinosaurs.

There are many, active youth groups, with no restraint from any elder groups or individuals. Any person can join to suit ones academic, religious, political, health, scholarly tastes. While some are nationally based, some have international affiliations. Many community organisations also have youth wing with no interference by elders.

In London there are groups viz Sangam sited in Burnt Oak, London.

Youths are wanted by Swaminarayan (all sects) group, Hindu Forum of Britain, Hindu Council, National Hindu Students’ Forum, ISKCON, and National Confederation of Hindu temples?

If the writer and like minded persons cannot conform to policy of incumbent office bearers or elders, they can form independent groups. I have witnessed a number of such splinter groups in Croydon. Art of Living Foundation, Young Vegetarians, Datta Sahaj Yoga Mission, Jagruti Mahila Mandal, Asian Resource Centre, Hindu Cultural group, SEWA of Tamils, Maharashrians club, Bengalee Community groups etc.

Kissinger went to China in 1971 to engineer a geopolitical event to break the bond between China and USSR and to capture a huge client state to do their dirty manufacturing. Have we witnessed a similar event in Powell’s meeting with Modi in Gandhinagar on 13-2-14?

The geopolitical scenes in the world are changing at astronomical pace. The Shale Fracking has reduced the importance of Saudi Arabia to the USA and hence the reluctance to act on Syria and subsequent refusal by Saudis to take up the Security Council seat. The client state China is now perceived as a rival and hence alternate approach is deemed necessary.

This alternative approach could be a great opportunity to Bharat. Congress is perceived as a diminished asset which has not furthered USA’s interest except in buying some obsolete nuclear power hardware. Modi should play their game with finesse and hawkeyed focus on the interest of Bharat. Of course, there are gauntlets on the way such as Third Front, AAP and Wendy Doniger which the great operator can neutralize with his consummate Chanakya Niti.

Ramesh Jhalla By email

Water, Water Everywhere

In George Elliott’s classic novel, “The Mill on the Floss”, it was the floods which were instrumental in bringing about reconciliation between Tom and Maggie, the two main characters.

Nothing good can come out of the recent floods which are causing nuisance and threat to life and property in the South West and elsewhere, unless of course, they can make man to get wise to the effects of climate change and take preventive action. The floods and rain are not showing any signs of relenting. A government minister has been quoted as saying that the flooding was a sharp reminder that everyone, sceptic or not, had to think about the risk of flooding, whatever they thought was causing it. We needed to adapt. What is happening now relates to what we were doing two decades ago in increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

The cutting down of trees in South America and the belching out of carbon monoxide by developing countries like China, Brazil and India are having an impact on the climate. The UK is playing only a cameo role in comparison. The situation is way beyond our control.

Mankind is generating carbon and it is becoming impossible to manage the situation. It is time for governments worldwide, not just the developed countries, to take action and stop causing harm to Mother Nature otherwise she will rebel and cause havoc to the extent that the posterity may not have an earth to live on.

Bhupendra M Gandhi By email

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India’s religious discrimination against Christians

The Catholic-Christian community in India does not indulge in terrorism, antisocial or anti-national activities, smuggling, underground activities, cheating and corruption, arson looting, rioting, communal and fundamentalist activities, criminal activities, encroaching government lands to create slums, female foeticide/infanticide and over-population.

They are extremely secular and work with honesty and dedication. But in spite of being very peaceful and law-abiding citizens, they face religious discrimination and persecution. It is very shameful on the part of the Indian government to treat Christians like this. When will India learn?

Jubel D'Cruz, Mumbai, India

Darfur crisis

I blame super powers to have split Sudan into two countries and for the recent bloodshed. I attended the independence celebrations in the Prime Minister Ismail Azahari's home in 1956. I visited Wau in South Sudan in 1958 during my summer holidays. The Dinka and other tribes in the town did not wear any clothes. The West has been wrongly accusing the Arab North of ill treating the Christian South.

There were tribal wars in the South since 1956. The West did not bother until oil was produced in 1979. Division has made both North and South poorer. The Darfur crisis that preceded the separation was a West sponsored fabrication of facts for access to oil.

Kevin Khajuria London NI2 0HJ

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www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

EDUCATION/COUNCIL VOICE

11

Lord Bilimoria urges Nottingham University government to remove students Professor makes breakthrough from immigration figure in battle to cure blindness

British Indian entrepreneur and well known Peer, Lord Karan Bilimoria has asked the British government to remove students from immigration figures and re introduce post work study visa scheme to attract international students to Britain.

Participating in a debate on the Immigration Bill in the House of Lords, he said, “The Prime Minister (David Cameron) talks about Britain having to take part in a global race yet the government’s insistence is on following this madcap immigration cap policy and targeting bringing down the immigration level to the tens of thousands. This is shooting ourselves in the foot.”

Lord Bilimoria recommended that, Lord Karan Bilimoria “First, student figures should be removed from the Indian PhD students admit feeling immigration figures to send out a clear message that we 'unwelcome' in Britain do not include them in the government’s madcap immi- A recent study in the UK has revealed that Indian gration cap target. Secondly, students feel unwelcome in Britain. A study of a system in which everyone’s attitudes of 3,100 international students by the passports will be scanned in National Union of Students (NUS) has disclosed and out of the country, at all that almost 50% feel that the UK government is ports of entry, should be either "not welcoming enough" or "not welcoming introduced as soon as possi- at all towards overseas students".

Figures that came out on Tuesday showed that ble and the government should bring back the post- such non-welcoming attitudes are mostly pronounced for PhD students- where 63% are Indian, student work visa.”

“What are the govern- while 64.5% students are from Japan and 63% ment thinking of? Why do from Nigeria. It has also been noted that students the government keep includ- from these countries are eventually advising their ing student numbers in the friends not to come to Britain to study.

UK earns £7.9 billion a year from international immigration figures when Canada, Australia and the students. By 2024, one in every three outbound United States – our immedi- higher education students across the globe is ate competitors – do not? expected to be from India and China.

Latest data shows between 2010-11 and 2011The Prime Minister has said that there is no limit to the 12, over 10,000 fewer Indian students travelled to number of students that we Britain to pursue a post-graduation degree. Indian want to come to study in the students doing a post graduation degree fell by 25%.

United Kingdom.”

Mallika Sherawat to participate in Oxford Union debate on gender

Mallika Sherawat, global entity and Indian actress, has been invited on 27 February by the Oxford Union (Oxford University), to participate in a debate titled ‘This House Believes Gender Exists to Oppress’.

A spokesperson from the Oxford Union said, “We feel that as a figure who recently was very outspoken about the image of women and women’s rights in a country like India, Mallika would lend an interesting angle to the debate.”

An enthusiastic Mallika said, “Yes, I have

Mallika Sherawat

accepted the invitation.

The date is set on Feb 27th. A lot of preparation

is required. It’s a great honour. I come from a small town, so it means a lot to be invited to speak at such a historic venue. I can use the platform to highlight issues like drop in the conviction rate in rape cases across the country.”

Sherawat, who has regularly spoken out against discrimination against women in India, will oppose the motion alongside M’Bengue against author David Aaronovitch, American lawyer Roberta Kaplan and musician-turned-actor Calpernia Addams.

Highly acclaimed professor and scientist Harminder Dua could be one step closer in the fight for a cure to blindness.

Professor Dua, of Nottingham University, discovered a new part of the human body hidden deep in the eye last year. Now he has discovered just how the ultra-thin layer – which is just 0.001mm thick – works, suggesting it could now be vital for beating glaucoma.

The eye disease is the second leading cause of blindness in the world and takes the lives of almost half a million people in Britain.

Prof Dua’s research has now discovered that the layer plays a vital role in the structure of the tissue that controls the flow of fluid from the eye. The findings, published in the British

Journal of Ophthal- mology, could shed new light on glaucoma, a disease caused by defective drainage of fluid from the eye.

The latest research Ishows that the new layer, dubbed Dua’s Layer, makes animportant contribution to the sieve-like trabecular meshwork in the cornea.

This band of tissue helps maintain balanced pressure in the eye.

It is hoped the discovery will offer new clues on why the

drainage system malfunctions in the eyes of some people, leading to high pressure.

Scientists had previously believed the cornea to be comprised of five layers – from front to back, the corneal epithelium, Bowman’s layer, the corneal stroma, Desc emet’s membrane and the corneal endothelium.

The new layer is located at the back of the cornea between the corneal stroma and Descemet’s membrane.

Some of the borough’s leading business and support organisations will showcase what they have to offer at Harrow Council’s flagship business event.

Thirteen organisations, ranging from national brands to local support organisations, have so far signed up to the Harrow – Borough for Business event on March 19.

They will have stalls and experts on offer during a networking session that will form part of the evening.

The event, between 6pm and 9pm at Harrow Civic Centre, is aimed at offering support to new or established businesses, with a chance to meet other organisations and find out what business services are on offer.

Natwest, Stanmore College, and Harrow in Business are among some

of the names that will take part.

Those who come along can also watch the final of the Council’s Business Den competition, where entrepreneurs will pitch their business ideas to a panel of professionals, made up of: l The leader of the council and salon owner for 35 years, Cllr Susan Hall. l Nick Howe Regional Enterprise Manager, NatWest Business Banking. l Dr Bayju Thakar, a former UK practising medical doctor, entrepreneur and consultant with global management firm McKinsey.

The deadline to enter the competition has now passed and the Council is now shortlisting entries.

The winning pitch will receive a package of support, including free business advice, mentoring, and marketing, to help get

their idea off the ground.

The evening will also see the launch of Business Friends of Harrow, a support project for new businesses.

Harrow Council Cabinet Member for Business and Enterprise Cllr Kamaljit Chana said: “Harrow is home to a huge array of successful businesses – we have recently been declared one of the country’s entrepreneurial hotspots – and we want to celebrate that, as well as show businesses what support is on offer.

“Central to this event will be a chance for entrepreneurs to shine in the Business Den competition, with a fantastic package of support for the winner and also advice for all of the finalists when they pitch their idea.

Hopefully there will be something for spectators to learn also!”

Top businesses showcase at flagship event

Food fraud exposed by Ealing Council An import company which allowed cheaper quality rice to be passed off as the more expensive Basmati variety was hit with a penalty of more than £11,000 at Ealing Magistrates Court.

Ealing Council launched an investigation with help from Reading Borough Council after trade body, the Rice Association raised concerns about the amount of regular rice found in packs being sold as Basmati rice by Purav

International Limited.

Food safety officers from Ealing and Reading carried out sample testing on rice supplied by the business to shops and wholesalers in the two boroughs. In one sample there was not a single grain of Basmati rice – which is usually a more expensive variety than other long grain rice

– despite it being labelled as such on the packet.

The company, represented by a barrister, pleaded guilty in court

Harminder Dua

on Thursday, 6 February, to four charges of falsely labelling food for sale on behalf of Purav International Limited of Denbigh Road, Southall.

E a l i n g Magistrate’s Court fined the company £2,000 for each offence and ordered it to pay the council’s costs of £3,630, plus a victim surcharge of £120. This brought the total penalty to £11,750.

Key amnesty helps save Newham Council £1.4million An initiative to bring illegally sublet council homes back into use has seen the return of 26 homes saving Newham Council more than £1.4 million.

New legislation introduced in October last year made tenancy fraud a criminal offence. Newham Council launched a key amnesty which ran from October until January 2014 offering tenants who had either illegally sublet

their property or left it vacant, to hand the property back over to the council rather than face prosecution.

As a result of the amnesty, 26 council homes are in the process of being returned with a further six under investigation. The council has already recovered 19 of the 26 homes which will be relet to families on the housing waiting list.

12

MEDIA WATCH

Meeting Narendra Modi would have to be on Narendra Modi’s terms. That was the message conveyed to the US Embassy in New Delhi. Ambassador Nancy Powell had expressed a desire to meet with him on the sidelines of a public meeting the Gujarat Chief Minister and Indian prime ministerial aspirant was to address in the capital. Nothing doing, came the firm reply. Such a meeting could only take place in Gandhinagar, the seat of the Gujarat government. Kolkata’s Telegraph newspaper (February 12) produced the fullest report of what transpired between the parties based on details supplied privately by officials from India’s Ministry of External Affairs and the US Embassy in New Delhi.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

be carried out and the two routes to the Northeast are to be extended to Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh. India’s first bullet train, at 300 kilometres per hour, between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, which is in the planning stage, will reduce the eight-hour journey to two hours.

Railway expenditure amounted to Rs 64,395 crore with budgetary support of Rs 30,223. (Times of India, Business Standard, Hindu, Mint February 13)

Foreign Direct Investment

Narendra Modi with US Ambassador Nancy Powell

Ambassador Powell had apparently been seeking a meeting for the past few months without success. The US has denied Mr Modi a visa, holding him culpable for the March 2002 Gujarat riots in which Muslims were targeted. Britain and the European Union have restored their severed relations with Mr Modi.

Returning to the Modi-Powell dialogue, the former’s terms for a conversation was that should adhere to his national role; secondly, that India’s Ministry of External Affairs issue a no objection statement on the projected meeting between the US envoy and the Gujarat Chief Minister. “He got what he wanted and he got it the way he wanted,” said an Indian official.

“In the end they (the US) were chasing him.”

US outreach

However, US State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki reiterated that the visa denial for Mr Modi was still in place, that the Modi-Powell meeting was simply part of America’s outreach diplomacy. “There have been no changes in our policy per se….. we are often engaged in concentrated outreach to senior political and business leaders,” across the world, said Ms Psaki at a news conference in Washington.

(Times of India February 13).

However, the next day reports cleared the air. Ambassador Powell had an hour-long meeting with Mr Modi, ending the US boycott of his government.

They discussed international issues including Afghanistan and Indo-US ties following the Devyani Khobragade affair. No mention was made of Mr Modi’s US visa. The US envoy said she was impressed by Gujarat’s economic progress and the business opportunities there for American entrepreneurs. Ms Powell also called on Shankersinh Vagela, the State opposition Congress leader, with whom she also held a lengthy

discussion on the human rights situation in Gujarat (Hindu, Telegraph, Times of India February 14) Mr Modi, meanwhile, had earlier predicted that Congress would lose the general election and remain in the political wilderness until 2025. (Hindu February 11). Why 2025 and not 2026 or 2024? The BJP’s astrology wing may have the answer

Railway Budget

Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge left passenger and freight train rates unchanged in the interim railway budget placed before Parliament on January 12, but he did announce the introduction of 73 new trains, including 17 premium air-conditioned ones.

The Minister undertook to move ahead with a reforms agenda, which includes dynamic pricing

Malikarjun Kharge

on more routes, similar to airlines, and reiterating a promise to set up a regulator to supervise fare structures beyond the reach of politicians and political pressures. More escalators are to be commissioned at railway stations. Passengers will be able to confirm the status of their bookings through SMS, more automatic ticket vending machines are to be put into service.

Surveys for 24 new lines are to

In what promises to be an unprecedented move, the government is preparing to open the railways to 100 per cent foreign equity participation. The proposal to allow Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the construction and maintenance segments of the rail network is to be placed before Parliament shortly.

The above plan was laid out by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion in August 2013. The caveat is the Home Ministry’s insistence that no Chinese company be permitted to enter this investment scheme.

Possible Chinese (or Pakistani) involvement was ruled out on national security grounds (Business Standard January 31).

The JP Associates consortium includes IBM Microelectronics and the systems integrator Jazz.

Hindustan Tower Semiconductor along with the France-based ST Microelectronics and Silterra (Malaysia) will set up the second unit. These companies will get the benefits worth Rs 10,000 crore listed under the National Policy on Electronics, part of the 12th Five Year Plan ending 2017 (Mint February 13)

Tejas for IAF

India’s Light Combat Aircraft Tejas is a vital component in the country’s air defence system.

When Tejas acquired Initial Operation Clearance in December (Full Operational Clearance is expected by the end of the year), Defence Minister A.K.Antony declared that the Indian Air Force (IAF) planned to induct at least 200 Tejas warplanes, if not more, for operational service.

Fourteen squadrons - mentioned as a high possibility-would entail 294 aircraft in all. As India’s MiG-21

onto the Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft for a test launch later this year.

The Indian Army and Navy have already inducted the BrahMos for operational service. Greater numbers of Tejas will bring down their cost, hence make them attractive for foreign buyers (Business Standard February 11)

Decisive election to help India

Jim O’Neill

Tata Steel in profit

Tata Steel, India’s largest company by capacity posted a quarterly (ending December 31)`profit, thanks largely to buoyant demand in Europe, and cost cutting measures, including shedding labour and using the Tata Group’s own coal and iron mines in Mozambique. Tataowned Corus Group - acquired in 2007 - sales improved significantly, hence overall revenue rose 14.4 per cent, to Rs 503.24 crore over the previous period.

IT exports to surge

Nasscom, India’s Information Technology trade body has announced its most optimistic software export forecast in three years, predicting a 13-15 per cent rise in the next fiscal year (1April 2014-31March 2015), with top clients such as General Electric, and Citigroup expecting to spend more on farming out back office software projects to cut costs. Nasscom said software exports for 2014-15 would rise to $100 billion from the present $86 billion in 2013-14.

(Mint February 12)

Tejas aircraft

and MiG-27 aircraft are being phased out, their place will be taken by Tejas. The IAF is committed to deploying six squadrons of Tejas Mark 1 and four squadrons of the more advanced Mark II, while the Navy hopes to acquire 40-50 of their naval versions for its aircraft carriers. The savings from the purchase of frontline foreign aircraft will be huge. Meanwhile India’s supersonic BrahMos missile (Mach 2.8) is being fitted

Jim O’Neill, the former chairman of Goldman Sachs, who coined the acronym BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) said India would be his top emerging market bet, if there was a decisive result to the general election and a firm government in Delhi. He believed the Indian economy had bottomed out and the recovery would gather momentum.

The country, he averred, has had a powerful long-term story.

Dr Reddy’s US sales spurs growth

Semiconductor plants for India

In a significant boost to India’s electronic industry, government has approved the construction of two semiconductor units in the country involving investments of Rs51,500 crore. Two consortia – one led by Jayaprakash Associates, the other by Hindustan Semiconductor – have been selected to build the plants. Semiconductor is the main hardware key to the functioning of devices such as mobiles and computers as well as high-tech defence equipment.

Strong growth in the US has helped Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd to offset the slowdown in India. This has helped the company fund its expanding research budgets – essential to secure future streams – without impacting margins. Total sales of this pharmaceutical company rose by 23.3 per cent to Rs3,533.8 crore over the previous year’s quarter. Revenues in North America rose by 76 per cent over the last year and now contributes 46 per cent to overall sales.

UK

Lord Noon asks prominent invitees to empower UEL students

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

Gammuci founders double annual revenue with their e-cigarette

Taz and Umer Sheikh

Two Indian IT professionals from Bangalore, known as the Sheikh Brothers (Taz and Umer Sheikh), had launched Gamucci, an electronic cigarette brand in Britain, 6 years ago. The brand has now become a sensation, doubling its annual revenues to £10 million.

Gamucci was first introduced at spring fair 2008 in Birmingham.

Subsequently the business stroke a deal with Middle East distributors for its

expansion. Later in 2011, the company set up its manufacturing unit in China, where now it employs 400 people. The company headquartered at London has its offices in 4 countries with a total staff of over 500 selling its product in over 66 countries with annual revenue of £10 million. It is reported that the brothers are now settling a £20 million budget, that will be used for more promotion and distribution network.

Data released by the government on 13 February has revealed that 72,000 males are raped or sexually assaulted in the UK every year, whether reported or not.

Latest figures also show there were 2,164 rape and sexual assaults against males aged 13 or over recorded by the police in the year ending September 2013.

The Times of India has reported that this has made Britain decide for the first time to commit £500,000 over the next financial year to provide services, like advice and counselling, to help male victims who previously have not been able to receive such support and encourage them to come forward after experiencing such a crime. The fund announced will also support historic victims who were under 13 at the time of the attack.

Damian Green said, "We must help all victims to cope, and as far as possible recover, from the impacts of crime- especially when it is as serious as rape or sexual abuse. Despite large number of sexual assaults against men, many choose not to come forward, either to report the crime or seek the support they need. I am determined to help break the silence on a subject still seen as taboo."

"Average sentences for

male rape have increased but there is more to do.

That is why we are toughening up sentencing and have introduced a mandatory life sentence for anyone convicted of a second very serious sexual or violent crime."

The fund will be open to bids from all charities and support organisations who feel they can offer help specifically for male victims.

Figures show 72,000 males raped or sexually assaulted in Britain

On the occasion of the University of East London’s 12th Annual Honorary Award holders dinner on Thursday 13 February, at the beautiful Cholmondeley Room in the House of Lords, Lord Gulam Noon gave an inspiring speech, talking about his enriching, humbling and phenomenally exciting experience with the UEL, moments and events he will remember and cherish forever.

Elaborating on his honorary award from the UEL, received in 2009, and his recent appointment as the University's Chancellor, Lord Noon said, "My first year as Chancellor, humbly attempting to follow in the giant footsteps left by our previous Chancellor, Lord Rix, has been incredibly busy, but most of all it has been incredibly exciting.

"From shaking the hands of a few students the evening of my last dinner here – this year I had the privilege of shaking the hands of over 2000 of our graduates at the graduation ceremonies at the O2 arena in November."

He spoke about the University conferred honorary doctorates, professional and vocational careers at

the UEL- such as engineering, health, social care, law and public services, forging its way in new areas such as business, social enterprise and creative industries. He also mentioned about the newly acquired pride- the state of the art library in Stratford campus and many other students' achievements.

Talking about the UEL India chapter, its ambition in attracting international students from India, Lord Noon went on to say, "I was not only engaged in activities here in London, but was also asked to be part of formally opening our new ‘India chapter’ at a major launch event in India. We hope with our approach with dedicated staff and new partnerships and links that we will be able, not only to increase our recruitment of Indian student numbers, but we will also be able to provide them with high quality, valuable assistance and guidance, to take them through the admissions process and prepare them for study in London."

He requested the august audience to engage themselves with the UEL. In conclusion, Lord Noon said, "If you feel you can help, per-

13

Lord Gulam Noon

haps by speaking at one of our events, mentoring our students or offering work placements or internships; we as an institution would welcome any such contribution to enhancing our students’ experience whilst at UEL. "So hopefully you will also get the same enthusiasm for the work of UEL and join me and all at UEL in making sure that we are the number one university for enriching the lives of our students."

Britain decides to ban Indian terrorist groups Britain in its recent efforts to fight terrorism has decided to continue its ban of four Indian terrorist groups. This came after India asked for assurance from Britain to ensure that pro-Khalistan rallies are not allowed to take place on British soil.

Last year, thousands of pro-Khalistan Sikhs had marched through central London to mark the 27th anniversary of Operation Blue Star.

Some say nearly 25,000 people had gathered to support the demand for a separate state for Sikhs, though the Scotland Yard said that the turn out was no more 6000.

India's foreign office has reportedly asked UK to take strong measures

against "those instigating and organising proKhalistan rallies in London and other parts of the UK." UK, in its most recent consolidated list of

organisations involved in terror activities or terror financing brought out on February 14 has reportedly named International Sikh Youth Federation, Hizbul Mujahideen,

Babbar Khalsa and Khalistan Zindabad as organisations that requires total financial sanctions under the Terrorism Act of 2010.

City Sikhs hosts Inspirational Interfaith Evening at Historic St Paul's Cathedral - Tanveer Mann

Photo courtesy: Rooful Ali

City Sikhs hosted an exceptional interfaith evening at the historic St Paul’s Cathedral on Monday 10 February. The "Women In Faith" evening was host to over 150 attendees with many different faiths and genders present. As well as inspirational talks from the Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Sikh religions, guests were blessed with hand-

picked readings from different religious scriptures from these faiths.

The guest speakers were Amrit Kaur Lohia, representing the Sikh faith, Sughra Ahmed, representing the Muslim faith, Rev Sally Hitchiner, representing the Christian faith and Rabbi Debbie YoungSomers, representing the Jewish faith. The evening ensued with an enlighten-

Guests listening to the speeches at St Paul's Cathedral

L to R - Rabbi Debbie Young-Somer, Rev Sally Hitchiner, Chairman of City Sikhs Jasvir Singh, Amrit Kaur Lohia and Sughra Ahmed

ing Q&A session where the audience were able to quiz each of the speakers on in-depth questions of women and religion.

A particularly prominent question from the audience was, "What one piece of advice would you give to inspire women in power?", to which each speaker replied.

Sughra Ahmed said:

"Choose the right environment where men and women work together on issues you are passionate about." Amrit Kaur Lohia said: "Look at the 'act' and not the 'actor'. Don't let your gender define you."

Rev Sally Hitchiner said: "Engage with God's words, engage with what you are being told to do, whilst rooting yourself

within a haven where you and others are not held back in life."

Rabbi Debbie YoungSomers said: "Try to be as fully yourself as you can be. Also have the right support system behind you.

The evening closed with some drinks and networking in the beautiful Cathedral Chapel.

14

Deepti Vala

COMMUNITY

A year in the life of Shishukunj

pranks and setting the example for the weekend!

A key focus in a child’s The highlight of my life is well-rounded develweekend was most defiopment through experinitely a group of encing different things. teenagers preparing three Nowadays, universities meals a day for over 100 and employers look for people. Pau Bhaji never something unique, and tasted so good! The bonsomething different. On a fire on the final night, day-to-day basis we with hot cocoa allowed would call these for reflection on extra curricular what a fantastic activities. The weekend it had extra curricular been. Despite the activities at weather, games Shishukunj were played with offer children energy, performthe chance to ances were done expand their confidence with horizons beyond and each and every weekly Kendra individual would (centres on have a new experiSunday) activience to remember. ties.

Shishukunj Every year also organises a on February 2nd two day Garba we have Young children being given the opportunity to over the weekend of perform the aarti at Navratri Shradhanjali, Navratri. Children where we remember the are encouraged to take gives this age group the founders of Shishukunj part, in all aspects, be it chance to move out of Shree Vallabhbhai Patel, part of the Shishukunj their comfort zone and Shree Devchandbhai band, consisting children push themselves, mentalShah and Shree Indubhai in Shishukunj displaying ly, culturally and physiDave. In the lead up to their musical talents, to cally. The long weekend the day, the children actually playing garba. consists of games, talks, practice bhajans and Last year, we had a garba dhoons in their age lesson within Kendra to groups, in preparation to ensure that the children perform in front of the would be able to take rest of the children and part and enjoy both days adults. The children of Navratri. Last year, we experience a day of had some interesting respect, sanctity and culsounds within the band, tural enrichment, which ranging from the tradimay not be something tional table, dholak and they understand as harmonium, to the very youngsters, but will come modern saxophone, and to appreciate as they flute. It was a real fusion grow older. of east meets west.

Shishukunj also Shishukunj is a voloffers different types of untary organisation, so trips for the children. events like these aren’t Shishu Shibir is a weekorganised by adults, they end summer camp for are organised by the children aged 6-9 years young adults aged 14 and A wall climbing activity at old. This trip takes place upwards. They are given Jeevan Ghadtar Shibir every two years with the responsibilities, be it promise of being the from booking a campsite and Kawayat (an martial weekend of a lifetime! for Shishu Shibir, to art) and that’s just a Last year, the theme was organising the band at a smidge of what goes on.

Africa, the children Shishukunj garba. These Last year, as an afternoon learnt about Nelson experiences are a chalactivity, we were each Mandela, tasted food lenge, which each and given a superpower (elasranging from Tanzania to every child rises to with ticity, invisibility…the list Tunisia and spent a night the support and family goes on) and told to use in tents as a tribe. For atmosphere within our creativity in groups some children there was Shishukunj. I’m very to make adverts to sell apprehension about proud to be part of an these superpowers. That spending their first night organisation which evening consisted of hysaway from home, but as encourages children to terical laughter as each the weekend went on, take on responsibilities group performed in front and the anticipation of and learn lifetime skills of everyone, imaginaactivities, games and a to be able to tackle anytions going wild as the Manoranjan (play) in the thing they take on in the adverts became more evening grew, a weekend future. adventurous and exciting truly wasn’t enough! at the same time. Masti Taking part in this trip as For more information (mischief) of course is younger child, or even an please visit encouraged, with the adult is by far the most www.shishukunj.org.uk older age group planning amazing experience!

For those aged 10, all the way to 100 years old, there’s Jeevan Ghadtar Shibir, otherwise known as a life moulding camp.

Held over the August bank holiday weekend, which is notoriously known for pouring rain, the four day camping trip

40 people go vegetarian As part of the 40 years celebrations of the Bhaktivedanta Manor last year, a target was set of getting 40 people to give up meat eating and take a vow to go vegetarian. Beginning from the Ram Navami celebrations, a huge effort was made to get the 40 names.

The figure was achieved with 40 people taking a pledge not to eat meat, fish and eggs. The project was driven by the Young Indian Vegetarians Society with a lot of support from the devotees of the Hare Krisna temple.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

The role of world Jewish organisations

Michael Whine

Three Jewish agencies played a formative role in the creation of the modern State of Israel: the World Zionist Organisation, the World Jewish Congress and the Jewish Agency.

Their origins were diverse, and the role each played was different, but they all made a contribution.

The oldest is the World Zionist Organisation, founded in 1897 as the Zionist Organisation in Basel Switzerland by Theodore Herzl. Its aim was to enable Jewish settlement in Palestine, the historic homeland of the Jewish people, but then a province of the Ottoman Empire, and its instrument is the World Zionist Congress, which met annually in its early years but two yearly thereafter.

Membership ranges from religiously Orthodox Jewish organisations to the Green Zionist Alliance, which campaigns for more rigorous environmental controls in Israel. Both Israeli and diaspora Jewish organisations can join, the sole criteria for membership being a belief in the Zionist ideal of Israel as the Jewish state.

The WZO contribution to the founding of Israel in 1948 was immeasurable: because it

constituted a shadow government it was able to provide many administrative functions after the new state was born.

The Jewish Agency was established by the 16th Zionist Congress in 1929 at the behest of the League of Nations who created a Mandate for Palestine. The purpose of the mandatory powers was to eventually transfer authority over the territories taken from countries defeated in the First World War to the local population. The Agency was therefore constituted as a partnership between Palestinian Jews and world Jewish leaders to assist in the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine.

It thus became the executive arm of ‘the state on the way’, becoming responsible for the Palestinian Jewish community’s internal affairs.

Like the WZO, the Jewish Agency was given new roles after the founding of the state including responsibility for bringing home exiled Jewish communities.

It currently focuses on rescuing Jewish communities in distress, facilitating absorption of new immigrants and serving as a link between Israel and diaspora communities.

The third and youngest of the Jewish organisations is the World Jewish Congress, founded in 1936 in Geneva Switzerland. It came into being as a consequence of the rise of Nazism, with the purpose of providing a diplomatic resource for Jewish communities.

Its raison d’etre is encapsulated in the Talmudic phrase Kol Yisreal Arevim Zeh beZeh (All Jews are responsible

for one another), and it continues its work on behalf of Holocaust victims and their heirs, countering antisemitism, diplomatic campaigns to support the State of Israel, and acting as a representative for all Jewish communities. Among its great successes has been the development of a dialogue with the Holy See and the Roman Catholic Church in an effort to repair the two thousand year rift between Judaism and Christianity.

There are other large Jewish organisations, some very old, but these have a national base although they may act internationally.

None however played the crucial and central role that these three have played.

Mr Mik e W hin e, Director, Government and International Affairs, Community Security Trust (CST) has been involved with community work for over 25 years and Asian Voice is delighted to inform its readers that over the next few weeks, Mike will discuss varied topics in his column, starting with the worldwide journey of the Jews to how they coordinate nationally and internationally. He will include details about British Jewry, the formation of its agencies, the challenges they face, and how they handle them.

His messages will interest British Indians on how Jews interact amongst themselves, how they interact with others and the government.

British Indians consider the Jewish experience as a valuable role model for our communities.

Pankaj Udhas Concert Tour UK 2014

Pankaj Udhas, a man with a Golden voice and the most popular Indian Ghazal Singer of our times is visiting UK soon.

The much awaited concert tour of UK 2014, after a gap of many years will see Pankaj perform his most popular hits as well some new numbers from the recent releases.

His charming ways and the melodic renditions bring an experience that is cherished for long by the music lovers. The king of heart with a velvet voice, 'Makhamali Awaaz" as they say in Urdu is a phenomenal performer, having done over 2500 performances the world over. "The legend returns" concert tour featuring Pankaj Udhas would be an unforgettable experience for both the masses and connoisseurs.

Pankaj Udhas is a name that almost brought hysterical response from music lovers with his first

Pankaj Udhas

Ghazal album. Soon he had a cult following that loved listening to his numbers like Deewaron se Milkar Rona, Chitthi Aait Hai , Zara Ahista chal, Mohe Aai na Jag Se Laaj etc every evening.

One must acknowledge his contribution for bringing Ghazals to the masses. He has over 40 albums to his credit and also has been very popular some memorable

Bollywood film songs. He also has sung duets with the great Lata Mangeshkar.

For a Ghazal singer, Pankaj Udhas has enjoyed the same appreciation and adulation from the masses that an iconic pop singer enjoys.

He is actively involved in various social activities and supports both charities and young talents in the field of music.

UK

Lord Loomba congratulates the UK Government for supporting gender equality in developing countries On Friday 7 February 2014 at the House of Lords, Lord Loomba, pictured, participated in an important international development (gender equality) bill second reading. While congratulating the UK government for supporting gender equality in developing countries, Lord Loomba said that the bill is very timely as only a couple of days before the reading the Prime Minister spoke about getting more women into public life and politics.

The UK Government is committed to spending 0.7% of national income on aid to support the world’s poorest people. Lord Loomba said “it is fantastic that this Bill is seeking to focus further on reducing poverty in a way which is likely to contribute to reducing gender inequality”.

Lord Loomba also praised what DFID is doing to tackle FGM and to prioritise education of children, especially for girls. He added “children are our future”, and he hopes that this Bill will

provide the world’s children with more opportunities to improves their circumstances.

Lord Loomba wished success for the Bill and asked the noble Baroness Northover, to ensure that gender equality should be at the heart of everything we do, and that the government should ensure that public statements are made to this effect, especially as part of DFID policy. He added that gender equality policies be revised periodically so any short comings can be addressed, and that monitoring is undertaken for this purpose.

15

Chairman of Asian Business Association of London Chamber of Commerce London felicitated

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

Baroness Sandip Verma, Rt Hon Gregory Barker, Mr Wajid Shamsul Hasan, Lord Gulam Noon, Mr G P Hinduja, Mr Vijay Goel with other invited dignitaries

Vijay Goel, Chairman of the Asian Business Association at the London Chamber of Commerce was recently felicitated in the Inter-continental Hotel at Westminster, on his recent appointment, jointly by G P Hinduja, Co-Chairman, Hinduja Group of Companies and Baroness Verma, Britain's Minister of Climate Change and Energy. It was attended by many dignitaries including Rt Hon Gregory Barker, Britain's Minister for India, Lord Gulam Noon, Lord Loomba, Keith Vaz, MP, Chairman of the Home Affairs Committee, Ms Valerie Vaz, MP, Virendra Sharma, MP, Ms Priti Patel, MP and Alok Sharma, MP. Speaking on the occasion, Barker, who returned from his India tour on last Monday reportedly said "We (UK and India) are on track to

double our trade from 2010 to 2015 despite economic challenges faced by both countries."

He had a special word of praise for Tata Group for what they had done in reviving the Jaguar Land Rover and selling a record number of British made cars in India.

G P Hinduja spoke about the vast potential for increasing trade between the UK and India and how the appointment of Mr Goel would help in realising the potential.

Vijay Goel said "the Asian Business Association is now seen as the most important Forum for Asian Businesses in London and is the true reflection of Asian Businesses in the UK." He added, a perusal of the statistics of business and annual turnover in the UK capital would lead to the

inevitable conclusion that the "contribution of the Asians to the London's economy is larger than any other ethnic group. This speaks volume about the entrepreneurship, hard work and dedication of the Asian community in London."

Goel reportedly said that he would personally take the responsibility to grow the Asian Business Association to greater heights from the point where his predecessors have brought it with their vision, consistent hard work and dedication. He added that as an immediate action, he planned to hold an event in April with Rt Hon Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury to facilitate international trade and investment.

Celebrity Meera Syal urges South Asian Women to open up about Breast Cancer

The NHS-led ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ campaign is encouraging Asian women to familiarise themselves with signs and symptoms, talk to their daughters or daughters-in-laws and visit their doctor immediately, if they spot any changes to their breasts.

The campaign has received celebrity support, with actress Meera Syal taking up the baton to educate the Asian community about Breast Cancer. Speaking exclusively to Asian Voice, Meera said: “I feel very strongly about breast cancer, as my own mother was diagnosed with it when she was in her late 40s.

This is just one of the reasons why I chose to support the campaign. I want women to be aware of the symptoms and not be too embarrassed or ashamed to discuss their fears with both their family and their GP. In our community, older women are less likely to visit their doctor because they are either embarrassed, don’t know about the key symptoms or are unwilling to acknowledge cancer for fear of tempting fate. I wanted to help eliminate these fears.

Ultimately, I love the campaign’s aim – to raise awareness about the issue of breast cancer amongst South Asian women, specifically older women. The problem in our communities is that there is a taboo and a sense of embarrassment. I want to ensure that every woman in each

Meera Syal

community works together to help each other spot the signs and symptoms of breast cancer.”

The public awareness campaign aims to highlight the fact that the older you get, your chances of getting breast cancer increase, with one third of women diagnosed with the disease each year being aged 70 or over. Surprisingly, two thirds of women aged 70 and over (67%) wrongly think women of all ages are equally likely to get breast cancer.

Meera is working to help get this information out by using all

forms of media and effective messaging. She elaborated: "I filmed an infomercial specifically designed for the Asian community. However, primarily, I think the most valuable way of spreading the message is encouraging communication. The campaign is appealing to daughters and daughters-in-law, sisters and aunts to keep an eye on their mothers, aunts and grandmas, to encourage them to talk if there’s anything wrong with their breasts - something which I completely agree with.”

When asked why older

women are not directly approached with the topic of breast cancer, Meera said: “Opening lines of communication is always the first step towards improvement.

Discussion is absolutely vital because the more the issue is talked about, the less of a taboo it is. I think getting the younger generation to speak to their elders is possibly the most effective way of educating the older generation. This is purely because older women do not consume as much media as young people do.

It’s easier to use younger women as a vehicle to spread the message.”

“But I think they are getting better as time goes on and generations develop. With our generation it’s not a problem, I think we’re a lot more open with our kids and not as embarrassed with our bodies. However, for the older generation, they still feel embarrassed because on balance it is an issue pertaining to their modesty, which isn’t so openly discussed.”

“There is still a feeling of awkwardness about discussing body parts which are considered ‘private’. They may feel embarrassed or ashamed. It is quite a personal thing but it’s important to realize a GP will always do their best to make you feel at ease. Women should start being more aware of their breasts and do routine personal health

Photo courtesy:

Raj Bakrania, Prmediapix

checks. That way they’ll notice any changes if they do occur.”

Referring to the Asian community as having a sort of 'escapist culture', Meera said that Asian women are aware of the risks but feel as though it isn't applicable to them. She added: “I do think often, a mentality of ‘it won’t happen to me’ does exist. We’ve got to start making each community realise that nobody is immune and it is in fact a relevant disease.”

With many women only on the lookout for a lump in the breast, other signs of the disease are often overlooked. The campaign pushes women to identify several lesser-known but equally important signs of the disease, including pain in the breast or armpit and changes to the nipples, size or shape of the breasts.

This information needs to be widely disseminated.

Discussing if British soaps are addressing the issue of breast cancer, Meera concluded: “I think soaps are doing well to address such topics. With the recent cancer Hayley Cropper storyline in Coronation Street, as well as Carol developing Breast Cancer in Eastenders, I think soaps are covering a lot of ground with raising awareness."

16

SPECIAL

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

‘Lotus’ to f Sabha ele

AAP comes out with first list of its candidates

With the resignation of Arvind Kejriwal as Delhi Chief Minister, Aam Adami Party (AAP) is wholeheartedly plunged into fray with a view to emerge as a force to reckon with in the impending Lok Sabha elections.

Without wasting time, Kejriwal’s political outfit declared its first list of candidates too.

Among the 20 candidates in the list wellknown names including Yogendra Yadav, Medha Patkar, Meera Sanyal, Kumar Vishwas and Anjali Damania have appeared.

The list made public following a meeting of the party's Political Affair Committee reveals a well calculated choice of candidates. AAP has trained its gun towards some of ‘corrupt’ politicians that the Kejriwal’s party had named earlier by putting his stalwarts against them.

Interestingly AAP has not opened all cards and kept other parties guessing on its ace – Kejriwal – whether he would contest the elections of not. The party announced its list two days after Kejriwal’s

tumultuous stint as the Delhi chief minister came to an end on February 14, just 49 days after he assumed office. Kejriwal’s close aide Kumar Vishwas, who had publicly challenged the Congress vicepresident Rahul Gandhi, will contest from traditional Gandhi constituency – Amethi.

Convener of AAP’s Maharashtra unit and former India Against Corruption activist Anjali Damania, who had earlier targeted BJP leader Nitin Gadkari in the multi- crore irrigation scam in Maharashtra, will be fielded against the former BJP president from Nagpur.

Banker Meera Sanyal will contest from Mumbai

South against Milind Deora. Social activist Medha Patkar and Yogendra Yadav will contest from Mumbai (North East) and Gurgaon constituencies, respectively.

Journalist turned politician Ashutosh is pitted against Union Minister Kapil Sibal from the Chandni Chowk constituency. Jarnail Singh, who had thrown his shoe at Union Minister P. Chidambaram, is pitted against Congress’ West Delhi MP Mahabal Mishra.

While AAP’s Khalid Parvaiz is pitted against Congress MP Mohammad Azharuddin from Moradabad constituency, Subhash Ware will contest against Congress’ Suresh Kalmadi from Pune. Senior advocate H. S. Phoolka, who has been leading the fight for securing justice to the 1984 anti- Sikh riot victims, will contest from Ludhiana. Phoolka has been put against Union minister ManishTewari.

FORMER scribe Mukul Tripathi will contest against External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid from Farrukhabad ( UP).

Gordhan Zadaphia Zadaphia, though he parted from BJP and established his own Maha Gujarat Janata Party (MJP) in 2008, its ideology was based on the thoughts of Dindayal Upadhyay and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee.

“When Keshubhai decided to form new polit-

ical outfit, I supported him and allowed MJP to merge with GPP in 2012 ahead of the assembly elections based on ideological similarity,” said Zadaphia, who replaced founder president Keshubhai Patel last month. In fact Keshubhai, whose son Bharat recently joined BJP, has also advised GPP leaders to merge the party with the saffron brigade.

On his differences with the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Zadaphia said that differences with him (Modi) were on personal basis (working style) and not on the ‘ideology’.

Arvind Kejriwal

GPP set to merge with BJP

AV Correspondent

Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP), the only regional party in Gujarat is all set to merge with the Bhartiya Janata Party. Confirming the development, pesident of GPP, Gordhan Zadaphia said that the party workers have passed a resolution and given him authority to take decision on the merger with the most suitable political party.

Zadaphia indicated that the GPP leadership including him are from RSS background and they would like to join the party having ‘Similar Ideology’. According to

Keshubhai resigns as MLA

AV Correspondent

Paving way for his political heir and the youngest son Bharat Patel to develop his career in public life, former Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel submitted his resignation as MLA to Gujarat Assembly speaker on Thursday. He also indicated to retire from active politics due to health related issues.

Kshubhai, who founded his own political outfit, Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP) following differences with Narendra Modi before the Gujarat Assembly elections in

Keshubhai Patel

2012, had also resigned as president of GPP last month on health ground.

In January, his son Bharat joined BJP and in the byelection of his Visavadar constituency in Junagadh district, Bharat may fight on BJP ticket.

The 86-year-old leader started his political career as worker of Jan Sangh in 1960s. He was also founding member of Jan Sangh – Congress (O) coalition came to power in Gujarat.

After the emergency, he got elected to Lok Sabha from Rajkot constituency in 1977. He became Gujarat Chief Minister twice, but both the time he could not complete tenure. First time in 1995, he had to resign as CM after Shankersinh Vaghela’s revolt. In 1998, he again became the Chief Minister but, the BJP high command replaced Modi in October 2001.

As per the latest poll survey conducted by Times Now, BJP’s ‘Lotus’ is all set to blossom in the impending general elections. Though the saffron brigade’s performance is likely to be the best in any Lok Sabha elections and likely to top the tally, it seems to be short of clear majority. Contrary to BJP, the Congress may be in its lowest point after the results of 16th Lok Sabha elections.

Times Now-C-Voter poll suggests that BJP is likely to

win 202 and its allies may win another 25 to take tally of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to 227. BJP and its partners would require 45 more to reach the magical figure of 272 to become eligible to form the new government in 543-member lower house of Indian Parliament.

The Congress, in sharp contrast, would sink to just 89 and even with 12 seats from its allies, the UPA would barely cross the 100 mark, it predicted.

With "others" likely to win 215 seats and many of them having joined hands with the BJP in the past, that would be very good news for those rooting for Narendra Modi as prime minister. In terms of vote shares, the NDA is estimated to win 36%, the UPA 22% and others 42%.

Arvind Kejriwal led Aam Adami Party (AAP) may win seven seats, says the poll survey.

However, after the resignation of Kejriwal as the Chief Minister of Delhi, things may improve for AAP. Its vote share, the poll suggests would be about 8%, which would be larger than the vote share of any party other than the Congress or BJP in any recent LS election. Among the parties currently not aligned to either the Congress or the BJP parties, the AIADMK and the Left which are in an alliance — are projected to win 27 seats

United Progressive Alliance (UPA)

The Congress led UPA was formed right after the General Election in 2004. Sonia Gandhi was unanimously chosen as chairperson by the member parties and given her authority to put a candidate of her choice as the prime minister. Later on she selected Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister of India. In the 15th Lok Sabha elections 2009, UPA performed better than what was predicted by opinion and exit polls. SP and BSP offered unconditional support from outside to the Congress led UPA government. Due to the volatile nature of coalition politics in India, the constituents of the UPA have been changing. Its main members are Indian National Congress, All India Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Nationalist Congress Party, Jammu & Kashmir National Conference, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, All India Majlis-eIttehadul Muslimeen, Indian Union Muslim League.

State-wise seats in Lok Sabha & party-wise results - 2009

Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu and Kashmir Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Delhi Odisha Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttrakhand West Bengal

TOTAL

42 2 14 40 11 2 26 10 4 6 14 28 20 29 48 2 2 1 1 7 21 13 25 1 39 2 80 5 42

543

Cong 33 Cong 2 Cong 7 JD(U) 20 BJP 10 BJP 1 BJP 15 Cong 9 BJP 3 NC 3 BJP 8 BJP 19 Cong 13 BJP 16 Cong 17 Cong 2 Cong 1 Cong 1 NPF 1 Cong 7 BUD 14 Cong 8 Cong 20 SDF 1 DMK 18 CPI(M) 2 SP 23 Cong 5 TMC 19

UPA 262

TDP 6 BJP 4 BJP 12 Cong 1 Cong 1 Cong 11 HJC 1 Cong 1 Cong 2 JMM 2 Cong 6 LDF 4 Cong 12 Shiv Sena 11 NCP 1 Cong 6 SAD 4 BJP 4 AADMK 9 Cong 21 LF 15

NDA 159

TRS 2 Others 3 RJD 4 Ind 1 Cong 1 JD(S) 3 IUML 2 BSP 1 BJP 9 CPI 1 BJP 1 Ind 1 Cong 8 BSP 20 Cong 6

OTHERS 122

Andhra Pr Arunachal Assam Bihar Chhattisga Delhi Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal P Jammu and Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pr Maharasht Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Odisha Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Tripura Uttar Prad Uttrakhand West Beng TOTAL

SPECIAL

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

flourish in 16th Lok ections: poll survey each, the Trinamool Congress 24, the BSP 21 and SP 20.

The decline in the Congress tally from 206 in 2009 to just 89 in the latest poll is a result of a pan-India collapse, with few exceptions.

In Andhra Pradesh, the state that gave the Congress its biggest chunk of MPs (33) last time, the party is projected to win a mere six seats. Similarly, Uttar Pradesh could see just four Congress MPs against 21 last time and Rajasthan four against 20.

States that are seen as bucking this trend are Karnataka - 14 against six Chhattisgarh (three against one) and Orissa (seven against six). Barring these three exceptions, the saffron party's biggest gains are projected to come from Uttar Pradesh - 34 against 10 Rajasthan (21 against four) and Bihar

adesh Pradesh

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Expense ceiling goes up for Lok Sabha candidates

Parliamentary Elections 2009

Total p a rti e s Total electors Total votes polled Total valid votes Voters' turnout

364 71,69,85,104 41,70,87,209 41,59,09,425 58.2%

New Voters Added in 2014 - 97 Millions

(21 against 12). Combined with more modest gains in other states, including those where it did well even last time, these are expected to raise the BJP's tally by 86 seats from the 116 it won in 2009.

Among the others, significant gainers are the AIADMK, up from nine to 27; YSR Congress, from nil to 13; RJD, from four to 12; and TRS, from two to 10. The biggest losers, the poll predicts, are likely to be the JD (U), down from 20 to just five; DMK, from 18 to five; and NCP, from nine to five.

The way BJP is going and India would go in poll after at least two months, there are chances that, the saffron brigade may improve its tally. If sources have to be believed, AAP would be the ‘Dark Horse’ in the elections and may do much better than the poll projections. The parties trying to form ‘Third Front’ could get seats ranging from 205 and 225, up from the current 125.

Third Front

Before the 15th Lok Sabha elections in 2009, Third Front was formed.

The ideology was to make a non-Congress and nonBJP alliance and it was an initiative of former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) chief Deve Gowda to bring all secular yet non-Congress supporter on a single platform. After the elections Third Front could win only 79 seats. Currently its members are Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM), Forward Bloc, Republican Party of India, Telugu Desam Party, Telangana Rashtra Samithi, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Janata Dal Secular.

National Democratic Alliance–NDA

NDA is a political alliance led by the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). NDA was founded after the result of the General Elections of 1998 to form the government under the leadership of Atal Behari Vajpayee by like minded parties. However, it lasted for only one year due to withdrawal of support by the AIADMK from the coalition. In 1999 under new alliances, BJP led NDA not only fought the elections but also completed full five year term under Vajpayee. However, in 2004 elections it fell short of majority to pave way for the Congress led coalition to form the government. In the upcoming elections, current NDA members include BJP, Shiv Sena, Shiromani Akali Dal, Indian National Lok Dal and Asom Gana Parishad.

Predictions on state & party wise Lok Sabha results - 2014 42 2 14 40 11 7 2 26 10 4 6 14 28 20 29 48 2 2 1 1 21 13 25 1 39 2 80 5 42

543

Cong 6 Cong 1 Cong 7 Cong- 1 Cong- 3, Cong- 0 Cong- 1 Cong- 4 Cong- 1 Cong- 1 Cong- 1 Cong- 1 Cong- 14 Cong- 7 Cong-5 Cong-8 Cong-1 Cong- 1 Cong- 1 Cong- 0 Cong- 7 Cong- 6 Cong-4 Cong- 0 Cong-1 Cong- 0 Cong- 4 Cong-0 Cong- 2

UPA 101

BJP- 2 BJP-1 BJP 4 BJP-21 BJP- 8 BJP- 4 BJP- 1 BJP- 22 BJP 6 BJP- 3 BJP- 2 BJP- 8 BJP- 11 BJP- 1 BJP- 24 BJP- 15 BJP-1 NCP- 0 OTH-0 NPF- 1 BJP- 2 BJP-2 BJP 21 SDF- 1 DMK- 5 CPI (M)- 2 BJP- 34 BJP-5 BJP- 1 NDA 227

TDP-10 AUDP- 1 JD(U)- 5 OTH- 0 AAP- 3 OTH- 0 OTH-0 INLD- 1 OTH-0 NC-1 JMM-2 JD(S)- 2 LEFT- 9 BSP- 0 NCP- 5 NPP- 1 OTH-0 BJD- 12 SAD- 5 OTH-0 OTH-0 AIADMK- 27 OTH-0 SP- 20 TMC- 24

OTHERS 215

TRS-10 AGP- 0 RJD- 12 OTH-0 AAP- 1 PDP-2 JVM- 2 AAP- 1 IUMC- 2 OTH-0 SS- 15 OTH-0 CPI- 0 OTH-0 LEFT-2 BSP- 21 LEFT- 14

YSR-13 PF- 1 LJP- 1 HJC- 1 OTH-0 OTH- 0 OTH-0 KC (M)- 1 MNS-1 OTH-0 MDMK- 1 RLD- 1 SUCI-0

17

OTH- 1 OTH-0 OTH- 0 OTH-O OTH-0 OTH-4 OTH-0 OTH-0 OTH-1

The candidates contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha polls will now be able to spend Rs 40 lakh, an increase of Rs 15 lakh from the last poll expenditure limit.

Sources in the election commission said the raise was effected in 2011 and came in force for Lok Sabha byelections ever since. "But for the first time it will be effective in the general elections this time," said a senior official. He said the contestants for Lok Sabha seats were allowed to spend Rs 25 Lakh maximum for electioneering purpose in 2009.

"However, different political parties are still not happy as they

demanded further rise of this ceiling of poll expenditure for the coming Lok Sabha polls during a meeting with the Election Commission in Delhi in last week of January," he explained adding that the commission is also stepping up its surveillance against poll expenses by candidates.

"The EC will deploy Flying Squad (FS), Static Survellance Team (SST) and Video Surveillance Team (VST), which will work under Expenditure Observers appointed by the Commision," he said.

The observers would also help create an awareness against misuse of poll expenses, while a campaign would also be

launched through media, he said. Speaking about the probable date for the Lok Sabha polls notifications, Barman said the election body is scheduled to hold a meeting of all CEOs in Delhi on February 20 in this regard.

"The Lok Sabha poll 2009 was notified on March 1, but we are yet to receive any indication from the Commission," he said, as speculation went up about notification of the Lok Sabha poll 2014 taking place by the end of this month or the first week next month. Model Code of Conduct will be in force immediately with the announcement, he added.

‘Modi is not a tea-seller but a contractor’ – Ahmed Patel

AV Correspondent

All India Congress Committee (AICC) President Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary, Ahmed Patel in a gathering outside the Gujarat Congress headquarters said that BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was not a teaseller but he used to run a canteen on contract basis.

Giving fuel to the war of words on Modi’s past as tea vendor, Patel said that he was informed by some teavendors told him that, the Gujarat Chief Minister was never a ‘Chai Wala’ but was a canteen contractor. “Just to take political benefit, he flaunts as he used to serve tea like a ‘Chai Wala’,” said the Rajya Sabha member.

Reacting on Modi’s unique campaign ‘Chai Pe

Ahmed Patel

Charcha’, Patel termed it as ‘Natak’ (Drama) to attack voters.

The meeting was part of the Congress’s initiative ‘Swaraj Kuch’ in which social activist Lalji Desai belongs to shepherd community joined the Congress along with hun-

dreds of his supporters. Desai is known critic of Modi and runs an agitation to protect lands of farmers and opposing the Gujarat Chief Minister’s pet projects – Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR) as well as Becharaji SIR where Maruti Suzuki is planning to set-up its manufacturing facility.

Patel also criticized Modi for using ‘Statue of Unity’ project – World’s tallest statue of Sardar Patel as ladder to become prime minister and claimed that Modi’s ‘Gujarat Development’ model is mere illusion as in reality Gujarat is lagging behind in all parameters in social sectors.

Sonia Gandhi’s close aide also raised questions on the source of money for organizing huge rallies of Modi across the country.

Sheila will not contest elections

After humiliating defeat in assembly elections, former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit quoted as saying that she would not contest any polls in future. She was answering a query pertaining to Delhi Assembly polls as well as Lok Sabha elections.

The strong Congress leader who remained Delhi Chief Minister for three consecutive terms herself lost against Aam Adami chief Arvind Kejriwal by more than 25000 votes, has almost call it a day as far as competitive elections are concern.

Criticizing Kejriwal

Sheila Dikshit

for giving up she said that “No one asked them to resign. They took this decision on their own,”

she said. Stating that the 48 days of the AAP government was focussed on talk and dharnas, she said, “They weren’t functioning as a government.”

On the Congress’s decision to support the AAP government, Dikshit said she was consulted, but the support was not unconditional.

“Our support to the government was not unconditional as they keep saying,” she said.

“He made big promises, we thought let’s see if can fulfil them. The support was only for the good of the people.

18

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

FINANCIAL VOICE Dear Financial Voice Reader, As an investment committee member of the Royal Institute of International Affairs I have to decide the best places in the world to put our money. Her Majesty the Queen is our Patron and so it is a particular responsibility.

Last week’s investment committee meeting therefore got me thinking about global stocks. Not least because the readers of this paper will have seen the Rupee plunge and may be thinking about Indian stocks. A chat I had at the UK India Business Council Board meeting with the new Head of Tata in the UK about the sad suicide of the head of Tata Motors focussed my mind on global stock prices too!

As the internet allows us a window on global finance through the browser, I want to own more foreign stocks. I already own some. So how do we trade them?

Why should we miss out on owning some world-beating stocks producing exceptional returns just because we do not have the often ten of thousands of pounds needed for a private client account with a major investment bank that would allow us to access global markets? Online trading allows us to trade foreign stocks cheaply, efficiently, quickly and easily through American Depository Receipts (ADRs).

ADRs are dollar denominated US securities backed by and related to the underlying company stock - which may for instance be UK listed shares. The price of the ADR and the underlying stock will generally move in tandem.

Of course in place of trading ADRs we could always open multiple foreign online trading accounts with different brokers, holding them in different currencies - facing conversion costs and ofcourse learn the language of each country since their e-broking sites often are not in English. The efficient solution then becomes ADRs which avoids all of these difficulties.

The reasons for trading in foreign stocks are compelling. Firstly, other global regions may be experiencing superior growth rates to our own economy. Trading their stocks could significantly improve our performance. When

H&M to start operations in India Hennes & Mauritz, the world’s secondbiggest fashion retailer, is planning to set up 50 stores in India by spending about €100 million. They are planning to open 50 stores in major Indian cities such as Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore after receiving final approval from the Government of India in December. H&M is attracted by India’s rising population of 1.2 billion people and growing incomes.

India’s clothes and textile market was worth about $58 billion in 2012 and is expected to more than double within nine years.

the recession comes we may be able to avoid a downturn in our own performance by tapping into the economic cycle of a country or region going through a growth phase of its economic cycle. As one Salomon Smith Barney analyst commented about Latin America for instance, "The region enjoys unique characteristics that could turn it into the hottest internet market in the world." Now, through ADRs I can act and profit from that analysis.

Secondly, I can have a more diversified portfolio exposed to a whole industry group I may find exciting but which is global rather than local. For instance a favourite of mine and many traders is the telecoms sector, and in particular the telecoms equipment and wireless telephony industries. ADRs allow me to take advantage of spectacular growth affecting the whole industry by not being restricted to only UK companies in the field.

The third reason I find ADRs a compelling proposition is that the choice provides me with a wider selection of companies from which to choose the very best. The wider the choice, then the greater the chance I will pick winners assuming my research remains diligent.

Further advantages of trading ADRs is that they are traded like any other US security. You are only holding dollars, not numerous other currencies. You do not have stamp duty costs and pay US online trading commissions which can be far lower than, say, for UK stocks.

Of course with the ADR you have the currency risk of holding dollars and the conversion costs involved.

The practicalities of trading ADRs are straightforward. It is just like trading any US security. You would use a US e-broking account as you would for trading in say, Microsoft or Intel. Which online broker should you use for trading ADRs? The same you use for your US stock trading, and if you don't have one yet then I usually recommend Googling the answer.

Site for the ADR investor include www.adr.com which is my favourite.

Asian Voice readers can have a free Alpesh Patel markets newsletter daily in their inbox by going to www.investingbetter.com

Bank of England predicts stronger economic growth

The Bank of England governor Mark Carney predicted stronger economic growth and an end to the six-year squeeze on household incomes by the second half of 2014. He also said that the cost of borrowing would remain on hold for at least another year, rising only “grad-

ually” thereafter. It also discarded its policy of linking interest rates to the level of unemployment six months after introducing it. The economy will expand by 3.4 per cent this year, the Bank said, up from its November projection of 2.9 per cent.

Citigroup has ruled out establishing a subsidiary in India’s fast-growing banking market, in the wake of regulatory moves by the government of India. Last year Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan unveiled rules governing foreign banks, as part of wider reforms to boost competition and attract foreign

participants into India’s state-dominated banking market. Analysts believe that these changes would force major international banks such as Citi, Standard Chartered and HSBC to set up subsidiaries. But Pramit Jhaveri, chief executive of Citi in India, said that he had no plans to establish one.

Citigroup rules out setting up India subsidiary

A costly victory for Vodafone in India’s spectrum auction

hold of the telecom licenses it already held and which it believed it was entitled to re-bid without an auction.

For Vodafone, last week’s auction turned into do-or-die situation. If it lost, its three main licences in Mumbai, Delhi and Calcutta would have expired as early as November, unthinkable after all the expense and hassle it has endured so far.

To be fair, in the longterm, Vodafone’s Indian gamble may yet pay off.

The company is big enough and has deep enough pockets to absorb the shocks. With more than 900 million subscribers, India remains the

world’s secondbiggest mobile phone market and with rising incomes, a growing population and brisk growth in demand for smart phones and data services, the country represents a lucrative proposition over the next decade.

It’s also fair to assume that, with time, the industry, which has been plagued by regulatory flipflops, will settle down into some sort of order. Indeed, optimists believe that may be happening. After last week’s auction, there were plenty of long faces but few charges of outright corruption, a contrast with the infamous 2G auction of 2008.”

In reality, Vodafone, Bharti Airtel and other operators are almost certain to pass on the costs to customers.

With the industry saddled with big debts, they are also unlikely to invest in the new services and networks that India needs.

The Ruias of Essar Global shocked UK investors as they offered to buy the outstanding shares of the London-listed Essar Energy at 70 pence a share, or a sixth of its listed price four years ago. Standard Life Investments, one of the largest institutional investors, called it “cynical opportunism”.

Essar Energy had raised 1.2 billion pounds by listing shares at 420 pence a piece in 2010.

This valued Essar Energy at 5.4 billion pounds.

Essar, controlled by the billionaire brothers Shashi and Ravi Ruia, owns a 78% stake in the energy company.

The offer “at a modest premium” to the company’s closing price of 60 pence on Thursday comes as a surprise to the retail investors and minority shareholders who slammed it as a complete

U-turn from the company’s earlier plans of selling down more shares to meet UK listing requirements, which mandate that at least 25% of a company’s stock be available for trading.

“Essar Capital Limited, the dedicated investment manager for Essar Global Fund Limited, confirms an approach to Essar Energy Plc regarding possible offers for the minority shares in Essar Energy it does not already own and for the 4.25% convertible bonds due 2016 guaranteed by Essar Energy,” said a statement by Essar

Global Fund Limited on Monday.

David Cumming, head of equities at Standard Life Investments, which owns 2.7% in Essar Energy said the announcement by Essar Global Fund, the investment vehicle of one of India’s richest families, was a calculated attempt to deprive minority shareholders of the substantial future upside in Essar Energy’s valuation.

“Essar Group has been a notable destroyer of investors’ wealth in India.

Now, they are replicating the same model in UK, destroying wealth of global investors,” investor adviser S P Tulsian said.

The investors would lose about 300 million pounds as Essar promoters offered to pay 912 million pounds for the shares valued 1.2 billion pounds at the time of listing.

British Airways, United Kingdom’s national carrier, is planning to invest heavily in the Indian market. Foreseeing the potential of the Indian market and the large number of youth population, it considers India as the second largest potential market after America.

Speaking about

India’s position in the global market, Christopher Fordyce, regional commercial manager, South Asia, said, “India is one of the biggest market for British Airways, we have seen a fantastic growth last year.

We are including India in our core marketing strategies and we will launch

new products and increasing the capacity in our flights. We will also upgrade the inflight entertainment. India is a country where more than 50 per cent population is below 30 years of age, so we are launching many campaigns to connect with this youth population.”

The government of India was the clear winner of last week’s spectrum auction in India. It has earned $10 billion, far more than expected.

Britain’s Vodafone which had to pay a high price to foot one third of the bill, were cursing their misfortune.

It’s not hard to see why.

When Vodafone landed in India in 2009, paying £6.6 billion for its acquisition of Hutchison Essar, it was hailed as a bright investment. Today, after a bruising multibillion-dollar tax dispute, a brutal price war and endless regulatory U-turns, Martin Pieters, the Dutchman who is the group’s Indian chief executive, is feeling helpless.

Yet even by its standards, Vodafone suffered a double misfortune last week. Days after its talks with the Government had collapsed over a £1.6 billion tax dispute linked to its original takeover of Hutchison Essar, the group was forced to shell out £1.9 billion to keep

Ruias offer to buy out Essar Energy criticized

British Airways to invest heavily in India

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

Suresh Vagjiani

Sow & Reap A Property Investment Company

FINANCIAL VOICE

Rain or Shine

19

A few weeks back I had a call to come and view a freehold block of 14 properties, in a prime road in Ealing called Castlebar. The deal was through an agent but was off market. We met the owner who was an old Irish gentleman who had clearly made some money in his time.

The property was built well and it wasn’t cheaped out on, meaning he didn’t try and reduce the square footage to the bare minimum to try and squeeze more units in. The properties were large, light and airy, many came with balconies.

The seller was old school and we were eager to do the deal there and then, one of the reasons for this is we had been offered this property by another agent for £6m. This agent hadn’t even seen the property and was coming to see the property after us so they could agree the deal for a lot less and then flip it back on to us. Hence we were keen to close the deal there and then before they came.

However being an old boy he refused to shake hands, and commit there and then knowing there was a viewing later on.

As it transpired the vendor took an instant dislike to the other party who came across very egotistical and inquisitive; he simply didn’t want to deal with them. We were consequently able to secure the contract on this and then had it pulled. However whilst we agreed the deal someone known to us contacted us and we got talking; apparently they wanted to purchase the property and had the offer agreed for the same price we had but never received the contract. They were not prepared to let the deal go.

Two things can happen, one is we compete and the highest bidder wins, or more sensibly we agree to work together and purchase the property at the agreed price. We went with the sensible option and agreed the latter, so we purchased the block through the fund we have launched and are currently selling the units off individually with a discount of 15% off a conservative market price.

Th e are a o f Ealin g is g oing up he avily, the re is major re gene ration going on in this lo cat io n, an d it is rare to find properties which have bee n so wel l made and d esig ned with a d isco unt o f this le ve l. Propertie s are sellin g fast at curre nt marke t value s and t here fore th ere exist s no re ason to give an y discoun ts.

ty is a double fronted house, which is at the end of a residential road. The garden has a peculiar triangle shape but this is of little concern to us, it would be of concern to an end user. Our aim is to pick this little lot up at a maximum price of £275k and get planning permission to convert it into four flats. The end value would be expected at around £400k, another angle would be to get planning and simply resell.

The property has been guided at £150k to £160k, but this has little to do with the reserve price. Often this serves as a carrot to bring many people in so the price can be hiked up way above. It is not uncommon for prices to go double of the guide prices and even higher.

The deal was done almost accidently, we had someone enquiring what they could do with £60-70k, we said not very much on your own, but you can join a syndicate. However this deal popped up and last minute our client decided to go for it.

The property is tenanted until November therefore it must be purchased as a BTL investment. However there are only a few lenders who will lend on this to a First time buyer, which is the status of this client. There is always bridging to fall back on. We will know in a few hours what the result is. The fact it is tenanted is a good thing because it keeps most investors away, viewings become difficult if not impossible and many are not happy to take the risk of purchasing the property blind, which we are.

However we are not looking for the First Time buyer or the novice investor, we want someone who can execute the deal quickly and will not ask silly questions along the way. We will keep the conditions of sale strict, a deposit will be taken when the price has been agreed, exchange will happen within 7 days and completion within 28 days. There is no reason why all sales cannot be done in this way, this ensures there is some level of seriousness and security for both sides. Auctions operate in this manner and also new build properties as well. However what happens often is files are kept on a lawyer’s desk and they do not move in a hurry.

We are also looking to close a small auction deal today at the Eddisions Property auction, the property is in Plaistow and is not an area we focus on. What got my attention was this was primarily a commercial auction and this lot being a residential seemed ill placed.

When this happens you can sometimes grab a deal. The proper-

Local Deal

5 Bedroom Semi Detached House Streatfield Road, Harrow, HA3 9BL

W e have also had o ur archite ct give us his opinion o n the possibility of c onversion , he has con firmed there are no issues. So it co uld be a ve ry lu crative deal for t his first time bu yer.

l Within catchment area of many desirable schools

You can never get too comfortable regarding raising finances for an auction property. From the drop of the hammer the clock starts ticking and you have 28 days to come up with the rest of the money.

If you fail to do so you will have a further two weeks and then you forfeit the deposit. In this scenario we have three ways of getting funds, one is the conventional route of a mortgage, the second is through bridging - fast but expensive, and the third is through another investor. For this reason we are confident of executing this through to completion; come rain or shine.

If you’re interested in purchasing BTL investments in Ealing with a minimum 15% discount get in touch with our office now.

l Rarely available property on the road

l Chain Free

l Vacant possession

l Spacious Garage

l Extended Property

0207 993 0103

We provide a turnkey solution. Contact us now:

Specialists in

Central London Property Sourcing

info@sowandreap.co.uk

www.sowandreap.co.uk

55 Bryanston Street, Marble Arch Tower, London, W1H 7AA

Follow us online:

Sowandreapuk

SowandReapProperties

Tips of the Week l To generate good profits by flipping properties you need to be able to pick the right property, in the right location, at the right price. And all this requires the right LOCAL knowledge.

l Always remember to see an investment from the markets’ viewpoint and not your own, don’t let your emotions carry you away!

20

FINANCIAL VOICE

Maria Fernandes

info@fernandesvaz.com

Golden Visas around the world: Do we offer a Good Deal?

Investor programmes are currently the focus around the world as countries introduce various programmes. The boldest so far has been Malta who, in return for a huge cash injection into Government coffers, offers up its citizenship on a plate. The investors will never see their money again but in return will enjoy significant rights of free movement to the rest of Europe.

Canada on the other hand has just announced its intention to terminate its Investment Programme which was set at the rather lower amount of CAD $800,000 after research indicated that the investors pay less in tax than other economic migrants,are less likely to remain in Canada over the medium term and lack the skills to integrate as well as other categories. In the place of this passive investment programme more focus will be paid on the active participation by entrepreneurs willing to create businesses and jobs, no matter how much is invested. In Quebec a new scheme is about to be introduced which will require CAD$800,000 to be invested in a government controlled fund at zero percent interest for 5 years. There is a catch to this superficially generous scheme.

It requires proof that the net wealth of the person is at least CAD$1.6 million and was acquired legally.

Cash strapped coun-

tries within Europe are offering residence for much smaller sums of money. For example residency in Cyprus is available for an investment into real estate of EUR 300,000 plus an annual income of EUR 20,000 per year or immediate citizenship for an investment of EUR 5 million in real estate or EUR 3 million in bank deposits. In Greece the purchase of property worth EUR 250,000 leads to residence.

The UK minimum investment is £750,000 and the availability of £1 million and fast track residency after 2 or 3 years if the investment is £5 million or £10 million respectively. This scheme is actively being re-considered as the view of the Migration Advisory Committee believes that it does not offer the economic returns that make it viable.

There are parts of Britain that desperately require economic regeneration, where the active creation of jobs is much more importantfor the health and benefit of the country than a passive investment of large amounts of money in the heart of London. A scheme which encourages and is properly policed and which could see vast stretches of the country re-developed.

The Canadians have assessed their schemes and have reached their conclusions. The UK is very close to announcing their measures. Let’s hope that job creation is at the top of the list.

India, US spar over solar power programme

United States’ dispute at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over India’s solar power programme is the latest in a series of irritants between the world’s two largest democracies.

From patents to the use of child labour and from textiles and aviation to pharmaceuticals, the list is long - and growing.

While trade disputes are not peculiar to the US, which was India’s second largest trading partner in the first half of the current financial year, the recent deterioration in bilateral ties is seen to be the main reason behind

the more frequent skirmishes.

“What has prompted additional US scrutiny is the tough economic environment over the past five years and growing protectionism given that thousands of jobs have been lost there,” said a government official.

Policy concerns in India have also resulted in a go slow over crucial decisions such as the proposed bilateral investment protection agreement between the two countries, where there is little progress given the government’s review of the treaty architecture.

Vodafone and Nokia tax rows to hit India’s reputation

The income tax rows with Vodafone and Nokia will tarnish India’s investment reputation, feel investors.

Reports say that the Indian government is moving to scrap conciliation talks with Vodafone aimed at resolving a $2.6 bn dispute over taxes allegedly due on a cross-border deal in 2007.

Nokia, meanwhile, is appealing to India’s Supreme Court over an unrelated $1.1bn tax squabble. A recent legal decision in effect precluded the Finnish phone maker from transferring Indian assets as part of its €5.4bn phone business sale to Microsoft.

The twin decisions are likely to intensify concerns over the investment climate and India’s treatment of foreign companies ahead of crucial national

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has issued a showcause notice to Etihad Airways, asking whether the Abu Dhabi-based carrier violated takeover rules in acquiring a 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.

SEBI issued the notice to Etihad and asked for a response on why it should not make a tender offer to Jet public shareholders as part of takeover rules, said the source.

Etihad has been asked to respond within 21 days, said the source. Etihad declined to comment on the notice when contacted, while Jet did not immediately respond. An SEBI spokesman also declined to comment.

The notice comes after India's antitrust regulator

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

elections in May. Many investors have been hoping that a change of government could finally restart India’s faltering economy. The moves are the latest in a spate of taxrelated disagreements to dog multinationals in Asia’s third-largest economy. Companies such as Shell, the oil major, and US technology group IBM have also been ensnared in disputes.

The profusion of seemingly irresolvable tax rows

is now deterring foreign groups from investing, says Dinesh Kanabar, deputy chief executive of KPMG in the country.

“This is a pretty dark day for India’s image abroad,” he said. “I feel bad saying this as a citizen, but I am party to several discussions involving foreign companies who say that, if we have a choice, we will expand outside India, because there is no certainty over tax.” The economy too is a challenge. Government data showed industrial production continuing to shrink in December, overshadowing a minor decline in stubbornly high inflation.

Ron Somers, president of the US-India Business Council, a trade body, said Vodafone and Nokia’s troubles would send the

wrong signals to investors.

“In order for India to maintain its role as an economic powerhouse attracting long-term foreign investment, it absolutely must have a fair, predictable, transparent tax environment,” Somers says.

Nokia suffers reversal Nokia has suffered a major reversal in its tax row with India’s government, stalling the transfer of its assets in the country to Microsoft and prompting the Finnish group to launch a Supreme Court appeal.

The reversal threatens the future of Nokia’s main manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu, which employs around 30,000 people. That factory was due to be transferred to Microsoft as part of Nokia’s €5.4bn phone business sale.

late last year observed that the acquisition pact resulted in Etihad's "joint control over Jet, more particularly over the assets and operations of Jet". If Etihad fails to respond to the notice, it will have to make a tender offer to buy the entire 25 per cent public holding in Jet as per Indian takeover rules, reports said, citing unnamed sources close to the development.

SEBI had earlier cleared the deal with a caveat that if another regulator says the deal involves a change in control they will reopen the case, the source said.

The stake sale, which was announced in April last year and was cleared

by India's federal cabinet in October, is meant to help Jet break out of a pattern of losses in the domestic airline business.

Majority of American companies consider India as a massive opportunity as the country is on a growth trajectory, a top American business advocacy group said. Refuting allegations of few American businesses on Indian trade policies, US India Business Council (USIBC) president Ron Somers said: "There are rough patches along this road, and certainly much more work needs to be done, but few companies do not share the majority view that the India story is a massive opportunity, where growth is as clear as the horizon."

Somers was speaking in his testimony before the US International Trade Commission (USITC), a quasi-judicial federal agency. The USITC conducted a hearing in connection with its investigation

'Trade, Investment, and Industrial Policies in India: Effects on the US Economy' as asked by US lawmakers.

USITC is expected to come out with its report by November.

"We must refrain from hurting one another or damaging this relationship that yearns to grow stronger," Somers said, cautioning those businesses who have in recent months launched massive anti-India campaign alleging that Indian trade policies and practices are hurting American businesses.

Arguing the need to "eliminate acrimony" given the anti-India campaign from a vested section, Somers hoped the findings of this commission will recognise that a constructive and harmonious relationship between the US and India is in the best interest of both economies.

into golden opportunities.

Describing IT as a change-agent, Modi said IT has the power to transform the country in several ways. "I see IT as a change-agent. It empowers, connects and can bind isolated parts of the nation and create harmony. IT can join people with governments, bridge the gap between demand and supply, and can bring us closer to knowledge."

Just like the British built bridges and rail lines, information highway network can today play a very

big role in transforming the nation, he said. While there are talks about inclusive growth, what is required along with this is the inclusive infrastructure as well, the senior BJP leader said, adding, "we will put the country on road to fast inclusive development."

The Gujarat chief minister also said that e-governance is the most effective form of governance and his state has taken several initiatives in this regard to make life easier for the common man.

"We must bring down the digital divide. We can't have two Indias, one racing ahead and another moving on a reverse gear.

This will add to our problems," he said.

"I keep saying that IT+IT=IT (Indian Talent + Information Technology = India Tomorrow). The IT

sector can be the shining light of Brand India," he said. "We are among the most youthful nations. Just imagine the energy and potential of this talent pool. We need to empower our youth with skills for their development and e growth of India. This way we will succeed in putting India on the road to fast and inclusive development," Narendra Modi said.

It is a known fact that those corporate houses where information is exchanged freely from bottom to top, and where effective guidance comes from top to bottom succeed, Modi said.

Calling for increased use of technology to reach out to the masses via e-governance tools, he said, "egovernance can bring minimum government and maximum governance.

SEBI issues notice to Etihad on Jet deal

Most US firms view India as massive opportunity

India must slash e-imports, says Modi

Favouring reduced dependence on imports, particularly, of electronic items, Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi said there should be focus on manufacturing sector along with services to tide over the mismatch as also to ensure better inclusive growth.

"Electronics imports have a big share in our overall import basket. We must focus on manufacturing, particularly in strategic sectors like defence... there is also a need to focus on promoting hardware as much as software to ensure inclusive growth," Modi said during the 25th Nasscom leadership summit in Mumbai through a webcast. Stating that the country is facing several challenges, Modi said these can be converted

FINANCIAL VOICE

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

21

Foreign Exchange

Pound on a high Paresh Davdra is the Dealing Director of RationalFX, Currency Specialists.

The big news in the week ending 14th February in the UK was the speech made by Mark Carney.

Carney has said he will now wait until the spare capacity in the economy is filled before he looks at raising interest rates. This is basically the gap between current output and where they think output could be. This is estimated to be 1-1.5% of GDP at present. This changes the goalposts on the previous forward guidance plan which centred on the unemployment rate breaching below a 7% threshold.

Also the Bank of England said it expects fourth quarter GDP growth will be revised up to 0.9% from the 0.7% estimated. It forecasts a similar pace of expansion this quarter. For the full-year 2014, it raised its projection to 3.4% from 2.8% in November. The central bank sees inflation at 1.9% in three years, below its goal. Citing subdued global prices, falling commodity costs and strengthening of the pound.

The pound climbed to a more than four-year high versus the US dollar due to better than anticipated data. Rightmove Plc

said asking prices for U.K homes rose 3.3% this month just from January; the most since October 2012.

The dollar declined for a second week, touching its lowest level in almost a month. Main reasons for this were down to weaker than expected U.S. economic data. U.S. factory production unexpectedly declined in January by the most since May 2009 with recent severe weather weighing on production. Retail sales in the U.S. also fell by 0.4% in January after a revised 0.1% drop the prior month. This morning the US dollar fell against most of its major counterparts as traders weighed whether weaker U.S. economic data will spur the Federal Reserve to consider a slower pace in tapering stimulus.

Non-farm payrolls only rose by 113,000 last month, much less than what was expected.

This was mainly due to the fact that the number of people who are actively seeking employment in the US has dropped off.

Payroll growth appears to have slowed but, given the strength of economic growth in the second

half of last year, a possible rebound is expected in the monthly gains over the next few months. However a bit of good news came from the fact that the unemployment rate slipped from

6.7% to 6.6%.

But nonetheless, the US dollar weakened across the board.

The euro weakened off considerably over last week commencing Monday 10th February.

Basically a member of the European Central Bank stated they are seriously considering taking its overnight bank deposits into negative territory.

This basically penalises banks for holding excess funds at the central bank and is meant to help kick start the flow of credit to households and businesses. Current lending to households and businesses fell 2.3% in December, the steepest drop in two decades.

There was also disappointing industrial production figures out in the Eurozone. The figure came in at growth of 0.5%, missing forecasts of 1.8%. Data from Germany showing that the rate of inflation in the country has also dropped from 1.4% to 1.3%

Weekly Currencies

As of Tuesday 18th February 2014 @ 5.30pm GBP - INR = 103.79 USD - INR = 62.17 EUR - INR = 85.54 GBP - USD = 1.67 GBP - EUR = 1.21

EUR - USD = 1.38 GBP - AED = 6.13

GBP - CAD = 1.83

GBP - NZD = 2.01

GBP - AUD = 1.85

GBP - ZAR = 18.14

GBP - HUF = 376.50

www.rationalfx.com

Information provided by RationalFX. None of the information on this page constitutes, nor should be construed as financial advice. The exchange rates used are the commercial foreign exchange rates provided by RationalFX. For a live quote or to find out more about how RationalFX can help you, call us on 0207 220 8181.

22

WORLD

IN FOCUS

Woman serial killer

London: Joanna Dennehy, 31, killed three men and attacked two others for her sexual desire to inflict pain on men. The story of notorious serial killer came to light when Gary Stretch, 47, and Leslie Layton, 37 were convicted by Cambridge Crown court. They helped Joanna in covering her crimes. Dennehy was luring her victims by offering sex.

Clampdown on cosmetic surgery industry

London: The government has made tough the use of anti-ageing injections. Now, the doctors and nurses will have to supervise the use of dermal fillers and regulators. The doctors have also been warned against lax in prescribing jabs.

Briton killed fighting jihad in Syria

London: One more Briton was killed while fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s forces in Syria. An amateur boxer, he became the tenth known Briton to have died in Syria. It is believed that Anil Khalil Raoufi, 20, was fighting with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), a jihadist group linked to al-Qaeda.

Pensioners losing thousands of pounds

London: Eight out of ten pensioners are losing thousands of pounds because of a “broken” pensions market which allows insurers to make “significant” profit at the expense of customers.

According to a report, most of the people who reach the retirement age without changing their pension plan are missing out on a higher income because they do not receive the best annuity, the Financial Conduct Authority has found.

Genetic only partially responsible for homosexuality

London: Scientists believe that genetic accounted for only 40 per cent of the chance of a man being homosexual. They believe that sexuality is mostly based on environmental and social factors. But scientists say it could still be possible to develop a test to find out if a baby was more likely to be gay.

Men more likely to die from cancer

London: According to a study, men are more likely to die of cancer than women. Data published by Cancer Research UK shows a stark difference, with 126 cancer deaths per 100,000 men, compared to 97 per 100,000 women. Experts say that men are more likely to be diagnosed with some of the cancers which are most difficult to treat - such as lung and liver cancer, which linked with smoking and drinking.

Loneliness in old age deadlier

London: Scientists have warned that loneliness in old age is worse than obesity. John Cacioppo, a neuroscientist at the University of Chicago, said that feeling isolated or rejected by society can have profound negative effects on health, ranging from blood pressure to sleep patterns. People who reported feeling alone were 14 per cent more likely to die compared with 7 per cent increase in mortality risk for obese people.

Men get healthier and outlive women

London: Men who gave up smoking now has improved health and outlive women in more than 100 different districts of England. In one suburb they outlive women by 13 years and in nine other districts they live between 2.5 to 5.5 years longer, reveals figures from Public Health England. It is believed to be the first time since records began that the figures for men outliving women have been documented in England.

British women to contribute for engagement ring

London: Some 52 per cent women in the UK said they would consider contributing to their engagement ring for fear that their fiancé-to-be would pick out the wrong one. For the sake of a few more hundred (or thousand) pounds, women would be happy to cough up more cash if it meant getting the ring of their dreams, the survey

3 killed as storms, floods wreck havoc in Britain

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

London: Three people were killed in the storms that have wreaked havoc across Britain, while the Met Office warns that the country will be gripped by ice.

A cruise ship passenger died when winds whipped up freak waves in the English Channel and a woman minicab driver was killed when part of a building collapsed on to a car in central London.

Bob Thomas, 77, died in hospital after being hit by a tree in the garden of his home near Caernarfon, North Wales. As the storms which have blighted the country continued to rage, a pregnant woman and her unborn baby died in a crash in Wales and police are investigating whether the mother found unconscious in her Edinburgh garden could have frozen to death after being locked out.

After weeks of heavy rain in Hemel Hempstead a giant 35 foot sinkhole opened up, threatening to engulf houses and forcing emergency services to evacuate 17 properties.

On Valentine’s Day more than 30 people had to be rescued by emergency services and the army from a seafront restaurant in Milford on Sea, Hampshire after windblown shingle shattered windows and the sea flooded it.

There was also major disruption across Britain's road and rail networks, with hundreds of trees uprooted across roads and rail tracks. But as the rain and the winds eased, the Met Office issued a yellow warning for ice across the entire country. The chief forecaster said: “England

and Wales join Scotland and Northern Ireland in seeing colder conditions.

Late showers, wintry over hills, and water running over roads in some areas, will increase the risk of ice.”

Some 16 severe flood warnings – meaning there is a danger to life – were in place, issued for coastal communities from Cornwall to Hampshire, Gloucester and the Thames Valley, where rivers remain at their highest levels for decades.

Communities across the country have been using sandbags and makeshift barriers to protect their homes and businesses from the floodwaters. The Duke of Cambridge and his brother Prince Harry joined in the emergency relief as they helped fill sandbags in Datchet, Berkshire.

Lymington coastguard, fire services and the army rescued 32 people from the Marine Restaurant in Milford on Sea, Hampshire, evacuating them in an army vehicle.

Hampshire Police said there were no serious injuries.

An 85-year-old man died on Friday night after the 22,000-tonne Marco Polo cruise ship was hit by a freak wave in the English Channel. Water crashed through a window, injuring a number of people. A woman in her 70s was airlifted to hospital while a number of other passengers received minor injuries and were treated on board.

Parts of southwest England have been underwater for weeks after heavy rain in February followed the wettest January in nearly 250 years. More recently, areas along the River Thames to the west of London, an important economic corridor, have been inundated, forcing many from their homes.

The floods have submerged crops and destroyed cattle sheds and feed, threatening to hit production of crops and meat for months or even years, farmers have warned.

The government, which has been criticised for reacting too slowly to the floods, has pledged to spend whatever is needed for the relief effort.

Speaking after a meeting of the government's emergency committee, communities minister Eric Pickles said work was continuing to keep road and rail networks operating.

"All agencies are working effectively together on the ground and where needed extra police and military personal are being made available," he said.

Britain has "to do better as a country" to protect itself from future floods, David Cameron has said.

With parts of the country still struggling following the storms, the Prime Minister said that "we cannot let this situation happen again".

Cameron also said that Treasury rules on spending on flood defences will be reviewed following criticism of the Government's handling of the crisis.

TIMES NOW, India’s No 1 English News channel from Times Group, has announced an international initiative in awarding the successful global Indians around the world.

This award is open to any Non Resident Indian (NRI), Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) and Person of Indian origin (PIO) who has resided in UK, USA, Canada, Singapore, Middle East, including Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait for a minimum of 2 years and will have a five tier evaluation process managed by Ernst & Young.

The First Edition of the Times Now ICICI Bank NRI of the Year awards powered by Global Indian International School (GIIS) will be held in Mumbai in March 2014.

The various episodes of the Awards including winner profiles will be broadcast on Times

Now in its global feeds in over 75 countries. The final Awards show will also be broadcast in India.

The Awards will be given in 6 different categories – Entrepreneur, Professional, Student, Arts/ Entertainment, Philanthropy and Social Good and contribution to India. The nominations for the year 2014 closed on 16th February.

The start of the nomination process has been announced in print, radio, online, social and onground across various countries. The Times Now ICICI Bank NRI of the Year Awards are powered by Global Indian International School (GIIS). Ducon Group, USA and Maharashtra Tourism are Associate sponsors of the event. Air India is the Singapore travel partner and Ernst & Young (EY) are the process advisors. The nomination process is

supported by various organizations around the world, including Federation of Indian Associations (FIA), New York & TriState, Singapore India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI), Singapore India Business Association (SIMDA), UK India Business Council (UKIBC), British Asian Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) and TiE, Singapore, The India Club, Dubai, the Indian Business & Professional Council, Dubai among other Indian regional language associations.

Sunil Lulla, President Corporate Development Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd said, “We are extremely proud to announce Times Now’s initiative to recognize and award the excellent work done by NRIs around the world.”

Naveen Chandra, the Head of International Business, Times Television

Network added, "We have received a tremendous response for the first ever The NRI of the Year awards – both from supporting organizations globally and the sponsors.

Our intensive marketing effort will help us receive a record number of nominations from participant countries.”

Atul Temurnikar, the Chairman and Co-Founder of Global Schools Foundation said, "The Indian Diaspora is a valued and unique global community that represents India and its culture across the world. As an academic institution committed to nurturing global citizens worldwide, we motivate our students to become responsible contributors to the society. We are proud to support TIMES NOW in their initiative towards recognising the Indian Diaspora through the NRI of the Year Award.”

Times Now to honour successful global Indians

WORLD

IN FOCUS

British children performing badly in exams

London: An international study shows that British schoolchildren from wealthy backgrounds are performing worse in exams than the poorest students in China. The children of factory workers and cleaners in parts of the Far East are more than a year ahead of the offspring of British doctors and lawyers, according to a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Scientists hail biological test for clinical depression

London: Researchers at Cambridge University found that teenage boys who had depressive symptoms and high levels of the stress hormone cortisol were 14 times more likely to be clinically depressed than those who show either trait. The researchers argue that this could help identify those boys in particular at greatest risk of developing the illness and provide treatment at an earlier stage.

Miliband promises new towns

London: The Labour Party has unveiled its housing policy with a pledge to create new towns and garden cities. Ed Miliband promised to build 200,000 new homes a year by 2020. Miliband promised a major house building programme and a "use it or lose it" approach to developers who store land in prospect of making greater profits when the economy improves.

Exercise essential for brain

London: Scientists say that physical exercise is as important in staving off dementia as keeping your mind active. Taking a brisk walk three or four times a week can effectively “grow back your brain”, helping to reverse early signs of neurodegeneration and improve performance on memory tests, research has found.

UK Islamist militant arrested in Kenya

Mombasa: A British militant Jermaine Grant was arrested in Mombasa in December 2011 with various chemicals, batteries and switches, which prosecutors say he planned to use to make explosives. He denies the charges but a British detective gave evidence in Kenya at the trial of Grant, accused of ties to Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab and plotting attacks.

Bombers attack Pak cinema for playing porn films

Peshawar: At least 10 people were killed when bombers hurled bombs at the Shama cinema in Peshawar for showing pornographic movies. The attack came barely a week after the Picture House, another local cinema, was targeted in the same way, leaving four people dead.

US angry as Afghanistan releases 65 'insurgents'

Kabul: Scores of alleged Taliban fighters walked free from jail in Afghanistan last week, triggering condemnation from the United States which said they were responsible for killing NATO and Afghan soldiers as well as civilians. The release of the Bagram prisoners is set to further worsen the bitter relationship between Kabul and Washington as US-led foreign troops prepare to withdraw after 13 years fighting the Islamist militants.

Pakistan stops issuing NOCs for screening of Indian films Karachi: Pakistani authorities have stopped issuing "No-Objection Certificates" for the screening of Indian films, holding up the release of new movies like 'Gunday' and 'Hasee Toh Phasee'. The Federal Information and Broadcasting Ministry has told distributors and exhibitors of Indian films that NOCs will not be issued till these are approved by cabinet.

Major change in world weather

London: There seems to be a major change in world’s weather- an Arctic freeze over much of the US, record heat and drought in California, while the UK and Western Europe are battered by brutal storms. Eastern Europe lies under snow, and a lethal snowstorm is bearing down on Japan. In the southern hemisphere, Australia has endured a record drought, but the rain never stops in Indonesia. Bolivia, Argentina and Uruguay are inundated, while parts of Brazil are bone dry.

23

Prime locations in London out of bounds for Britons

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

London: Prime locations in London are owned by wealthy foreigners and you can hardly find a British resident there. The new generation of overseas buyer who is wealthy but cannot afford houses in Kensington’s prices of £5 million to £7 million for a “good” address is buying new flats in areas such as Battersea near by.

Thomas Tangney, of Knight Frank, said that Wycombe Square with large Georgian-style townhouses was typical of a prime foreign enclave.

“The owners are from the Middle East, Russians, Kazakhs and a few Europeans. They like the location between Holland Park, Notting Hill and Kensington High Street and they like the security,” he said. “You won’t find many Brits there,” he said.

Mark Carney, the

Governor of the Bank of England, said there was nothing that the Bank could do to check the impact of foreign money on the capital’s house prices. Research by Knight Frank indicates that 49 per cent of sales of newly built property in central London were to foreign buyers, most of whom are from Europe, Russia and the Middle East but resident in the UK. Trevor Abrahmsohn, of

Glentree Estates, said that most of the priciest property in the capital by square foot was now owned by foreigners. “For example, The Bishops Avenue was predominantly British until the 70s,” he said. “Since then waves of political refugees, petrodollar millionaires and oligarchs have bought in the street and it’s now primarily foreign-owned.”

Owners of homes there have included Gracie

Unsafe Bangla factories still selling clothes to western giants

Dhaka: The owners of unsafe cloth factories in Bangladesh and the Western retail giants are not much worried about the safety of the workers even after a series of fire mishaps. The Bangladesh factories are still making clothes and supplying them to Western retailers.

An undercover reporter of Sunday Times toured several plants and found a main stairwell partially blocked by packing boxes and emergency exits opening into a crowded indoor market.

Concern about the safety of such factories and the 4.4 million workers they employ has risen after disasters at the Tazreen plant in 2012 and the Rana Plaza complex last year, where more than 1,100 died.

Despite promises by retailers to improve safety rules and checks, some ostensibly respectable suppliers are sub-letting work to plants with safety

problems without the knowledge of their clients.

Roy Ramesh, secretary-general of the IndustriALL Bangladesh Council, which represents workers, said: “When retailers are placing large orders with factories, they must know that the factory does not have the capacity to supply them.

They should be more vigilant about checking subcontractors.”

Several employees interviewed by the

Research Initiative for Social Equity Society (Rise), a workers’ rights group, last year, raised concerns about boxes stored in corridors and on stairs.

Despite many western retailers signing up to agreements to improve factory safety and conditions, campaign groups urge them to step up their vigilance. “Buyers must solve this ethical and legal question,” said Kashef Hoda, the director of Rise.

Peshawar: The Pakistani Taliban demanded that the government release militant prisoners and begin withdrawing troops from the group's tribal sanctuary before they will participate in peace talks, raising doubts about prospects for negotiations.

The Taliban's leadership council decided on the need for confidence building measures while meeting to discuss the government's offer to hold peace talks, said the group's spokesman, Shahidullah Shahid.

Pakistan's major political parties endorsed peace talks with the Taliban last week as the best way to end a decade-long insurgency that has killed thousands of people.

However, it's unclear what steps the government is willing to take to convince the militants to sit down at the negotiating table.

It's also unclear what would be acceptable to the army, which has lost thousands of soldiers fighting the Taliban and is considered the strongest institution in the country.

''The Taliban have been deceived in the past in the name of peace, so the government will have to take some steps before the start of talks to assure the Taliban that the government is serious about the peace process,'' Shahid said by telephone from an undisclosed location.

The government must release Pakistani Taliban militants it is holding prisoner and show that it is withdrawing soldiers from the tribal region along the border with Afghanistan, said Shahid. ''If the government

Fields and Billy Butlin, and, more recently, members of the House of Saud and Lakshmi Mittal, the steel magnate. Average prices are about £6.2 million, although the best properties sell for 10s of millions. However, a third of the homes are empty and in disrepair, but, crucially for their overseas owners, their value is still rising.

Abrahmson said: “Other streets with similar levels of foreign ownership would include Eaton Place, Kensington Palace Gardens and The Boltons.” He said that foreign buyers were attracted by the capital’s economic status, its excellence in cuisine and, notably, its schools.

Economists believe that London property is also widely viewed as a safe haven and a status symbol.

Musharraf appears in court

Islamabad: Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf arrived in court to face treason charges on Tuesday, a victory for the country's increasingly assertive judiciary after months of delays.

Musharraf, 70, faces the death penalty if found guilty of charges related to his suspension of the constitution and imposition of emergency rule in 2007, when he was trying to extend his rule as president. Musharraf, who has been in hospital for the past month after suffering chest pains, stood up when the judge entered and gave him a small wave but did not speak. Judge Faisal Arab, who heads the special panel of three judges, did not charge Musharraf and said he would first examine challenges raised by the defence.

Pakistani Taliban make demands ahead of peace talks

does not take these two steps, the peace process cannot go forward,'' said Shahid.

Intelligence officials and militant commanders said the Taliban and the army exchanged a small number of prisoners last week as a confidence building measure ahead of talks, but the army denied the swap.

The army has carried out scores of operations against the Taliban in the tribal region, but the militants have proven resilient and continue to carry out regular attacks.

24

INDIA

SOUTH BRIEFS

ATM attack victim returns to work

Jyothi Udaya walked into Corporation Bank's service branch to work 87 days after an unidentified man attacked her with a machete in an ATM in Bangalore last week. She was given a warm welcome by her colleagues. The suture marks on her face are now fading. She looked looked a bit rusty in the morning but slowly began picking up from where she'd left, her colleagues said.

Karnataka gets a please-all budget

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah has sought to please all sections of society, while marginally raising excise duty on liquor, particularly that of beer. The chief minister while presenting the budget has worked out several novel ways of additional resource mobilisation, including a reduction in the value added tax on liquor. The total estimated expenditure as envisaged by the chief minister marks a further increase to the revised budget presented by him in July last - from Rs 1,210 billion to Rs 1,380 billion, the highlight being added sops to farmers.

Karunanidhi rules out DMKCongress-DMDK alliance

Scotching speculations about a possible pre-poll pact between his party, Congress and DMDK for the Lok Sabha elections, DMK president M Karunanidhi said there were "no indications" for the formation of such a combine. DMK had been openly wooing the DMDK, headed by actor-politician Vijaykant, for an alliance, but the latter was yet to make clear his choice. DMK has already finalised alliance with the Indian Union Muslim Leauge, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, Manithaneyaneya Makkal Katchi and Puthiya Tamizhagam.

Former Karnataka minister attempts suicide

A former Karnataka minister and BJP leader allegedly tried to commit suicide after a woman accused him of exploiting her. He has been admitted to a hospital in Mysore. A BJP spokesperson said that SA Ramadas is out of danger and under observation in a private hospital. A woman in her late 30s, told local news channels that though she had known Ramdas since five years and that they had come close in the recent past after he had promised to marry her and look after her, as she was a widow with two children from first marriage.

PUNJAB BRIEFS

AAP takes out Jhaadu Yatra in Jalandhar

After the resignation of Arvind Kejriwal's government in Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party took out Jhaadu Yatra in Jalandhar. Apart from AAP volunteers, some common people also participated in the rally. Party workers claimed that the AAP cadres in Punjab were jubilant on Kejriwal government's fall. Their logic - now he would be able to devote more time to the party during the run-up for Lok Sabha elections.

Shoe hurled at Haryana CM Hooda in Sirsa

A farmer allegedly hurled a shoe at Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda during an official function at Dabwali in state’s Sirsa district but it fell short of the target. Hooda was addressing a gathering at the foundation stone-laying ceremony of a railway over-bridge when Raja Ram, aged 45, allegedly tossed the footwear at him, police said. The shoe landed near the stage, they said adding Ram, a resident of Nathusari village in Sirsa, had been taken into custody.

Bharat Ratna sought for Air Marshal Arjan Singh

Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal has demanded that Air Marshal Arjan Singh should be conferred with the Bharat Ratna – India’s the highest civilian award. Badal has made this demand to the central government while addressing the gathering of retired generals, senior defence persons and other eminent personalities from defence field.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

Stalin emerges as DMK heir apparent

mobilise just Rs 1100,000 and get a pat from his mentor and former chief minister C N Annadurai when he was holding the post.

Party leaders vied with each other to describe Stalin as a man who worked hard to transform himself into a natural leader to improve skills in organisational matters and

his oratory.

The conference also gave ample evidence of the growing clout Stalin, with all banners and arches at vantage points singing paeans about the DMK leader.

During the two-day conference which concluded on Sunday, the party stated it was willing to align with secular forces that supported implementation of the Sethusamudhram Channel project and fight for social justice and reservation.

Its allies opined that the present alliance was enough to fight the Lok Sabha polls and they

would not mind if the DMK chief wanted to expand the alliance and make it stronger. Very few leaders of alliance parties like VCK, IUML, MMK spoke of DMDK leader Vijayakanth and none could infer if they wanted it in the alliance or not, though the DMK chief himself stated at a press meet before the conference, the opposition leader was "slipping out like a stuntman' on the issue.

The allies were also confident that DMK would play a major role in deciding the next Prime Minister and said the Lok Sabha election was "a battle to protect secularism, social justice and reservation."

dents of Class XII and polytechnic colleges. The two schemes, in operation since 2011, were launched to fulfil the AIADMK's electoral promise.

The budget announced maintenance allowance of Rs 4,000 to potters to support their livelihood during rainy season. The Government also announced a slew of new projects. It also allocated Rs 20 billion for 17 projects, involving bridge works, road works and railway-over-bridges with financial assistance from Japan International Cooperation Agency.

In its bid to lure investors, particularly to the infrastructure sector, the government will be organising a global investors' meet (GIM) in October this year for which Rs 1 billion has been earmarked.

A new political party - the Tamil Maanila Katchi with pro-Hindi and nondiscrimination of Brahmins as its main policies was launched in Tamil Nadu. Advocate and president of the Madras High Court Advocates Association R C Paul Kanagaraj was elected chief of the party. The launch of the party saw the participation of a large number of advocates.

"Denying Hindi education to our children has not helped their development, and hence we need to break from the past and make Hindi a compulsory subject at least up to Class V," said Kanagaraj.

Discrimination of any section of people on the basis of caste was not only illegal but also unconstitutional, he said, adding that anti-Brahmin rhetoric had been made by politicians

for the past several decades for political reasons.

In the place of bilingual system of learning, there should be trilingual regime inclusive of Hindi, he said.

Development of barren lands and safeguarding the interests of fishermen, traders and women are also part of the policies of the new party.

Asked whether it would contest in the coming Lok Sabha elections, Kanagaraj said a decision in that regard would be taken after consulting the other office-bearers of the party.

gious body and I Already facing never interfere in several questions its working. They and attacks from take all the decihis bete noire sions on their C a p t a i n own," Badal said Amarinder Singh in desperation to on Operation wash off Blue Star, Punjab all chief minister responsibility of Parkash Singh Parkash Singh Badal the memorial Badal termed which was opened SGPC chief Avtar Singh in May last year.

Makkar, who is Badal's The chief minster was own appointee, a liar after speaking to reporters after the latter recently revealed holding a meeting with that the decision of conSAD and BJP leaders struction of Blue Star about preparations of BJP's memorial in Darbar Sahib PM candidate Narendra Complex was taken with Modi's rally.

Badal senior's consent.

When asked about the Makkar had recently serious questions being raised by Congress that he said in Amritsar that all did not spent 17 years in important decisions of jail as he was claiming and SGPC were being taken by his total internment was the SGPC after consulting around 40 months, Badal chief minister and SAD claimed he remained in jail president Sukhbir Singh Badal and he had said that more than any other the same was done in case Congress leader of his genof Blue Star memorial also. eration. "During emergency "If he has said this then alone I spent in jail for 19 he is a liar. SGPC is a relimonths", he said.

Haryana's law department has questioned the chargesheet against IAS officer Ashok Khemka over low wheat seed sale during his tenure as Haryana Seed Development Corporation (HSWC) MD in 2012-13.

Officials refused to divulge details about the queries raised. But it is believed the department has questioned absence of an explanation from Khemka before the chargesheet was issued.

Another issue could be related to technical points like necessity of approval from the chief minister before initiating a chargesheet against an IAS officer as per a Supreme Court order and all India service rules.

Chief secretary S C Choudhary confirmed Khemka's file had been sent to the agriculture department, which has administrative control over

HSWC, after questions were raised.

Khemka is facing action over losses HSDC suffered due to unsold certified seed of wheat worth Rs 220 million during his tenure. Sources said chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had asked Choudhary to look into the matter in 2013. He had earlier proposed a chargesheet against Khemka. But sources claimed then chief secretary P K Chaudhery had disagreed with him and sought fair examination of the issue before initiating any action.

Khemka had described the move as unprecedented and extremely unfortunate.

"I cannot recall any other case where an IAS officer of my seniority was subjected to the humiliation of a chargesheet without affording him an opportunity to reply to the allegations leveled against him," he said in a letter.

The 10th state-level conference of DMK at Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu clearly endorsed the emergence of M Karunanidhi's younger son MK Stalin as heir apparent, with the party chief joining top rung party leaders and those of its alliance in eulogising him for his 'hard work'.

The DMK patriarch was all praise for his son and party treasurer for staging an event of this scale. Party cadres concurred with him, pledging their undying loyalty to Stalin.

Karunanidhi heaped encomiums on Stalin for saving Rs 10.01 million for the meet and recalled how he had struggled to

The Tamil Nadu government announced opening of 100 subsidised 'Amma' pharmacies in budget 2014-15 with an eye to the coming Lok Sabha elections.

After opening 'Amma Canteens' and 'Amma mineral water', the government would set up 100 'Amma Marundagam' (medical stores) which will sell medicines at reasonable prices.

Finance Minister O Pannerselvam, who presented the budget in the Assembly, also enhanced food subsidy allocation to Rs 53 billion, up by Rs 4 billion from the previous year. He also proposed an allocation of Rs 20 billion for distribution of fans, mixers and grinders to 3500,000 families during the year free of cost. He earmarked Rs 11billion in budget for the ambitious free laptop scheme for stu-

Now, Jaya comes up New party launched in with 'Amma' pharmacies Tamil Nadu

Punjab CM calls SGPC chief a 'liar'

R C Paul Kanagaraj

Chargesheet against Khemka questioned

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

TRAVEL - INDIA

Death of an inspirational leader

His Holiness Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin

by Lord Noon

Capture the Magic of the Rio Carnival 2014

B

e a part of the vivacious Rio Carnival 2014 that takes the world by storm with a 5-day of non-stop dancing, joy and celebrations. The largest carnival of the world welcomes you to the invigorating Samba Parade and dance in the fascinating bright costumes along with over 300 bands coming from all across Brazil.

The entire nation is draped in the spirits of the larger than life shows and dances happening on the streets of Rio. Every small and big village and town all over Brazil participates in this festival of joy that’s meant to raise the blessings of

beginning of the carnival, that moves through every street and square of this magical destination. The bars, clubs, hotels and restaurants of Rio drone with stimulating music and merriment all day and night. Visitors too, join the passionate Brazilians dancing to the tunes of brass orchestras decked up in sparkling costumes, bathing suits, fur gowns, funky frills and makeup.

The famous ZonaSul in South Rio is one of the finest places to stay in Rio to capture the vim and vigor of the astounding Samba displays. Leblon is another

the ancestors and deities of the African Pantheon. The preparations begin months before the actual event and Rio organizesa well-pitched base of hotels and restaurants throughout the city to put up a spectacular show for the visitors.

The Rio Carnival held in February the hottest month in the Southern Hemisphere, kicks off 40 days prior to Easter. You cannot find an event as artistic as the Rio Carnival that has set a benchmark for the world to follow. More than 500,000 foreign visitors swarm the city to soak up the gripping Brazilian culture every year.

The Fat King’s crowning marks the

great choice to settle amid absolute luxury. A trip to the captivating Iguazu Falls and the dramatic Corcovado Mountain resting at a height of 710 meter take your vacations to another level.

The radiantcelebrationsof Rio de Janeiro Carnival 2014 are yet again set to put the city on fire commencing on Friday, 28 February 2014 and will conclude on Tuesday, 4 March 2014.

A choice of flight, 7 night’saccommodation with daily breakfast are available starting from just £ 1089pp. Book with Brightsun Travel by calling our dedicated tours line 0208 819 0531 or visit www.brightsun.co.uk.

25

nity was then struck by a further tragedy. There was a stampede of mourners trying to catch a final glimpse of our leader resulting in 18 people dying and many more being injured. This was a very sad day for our community.

His Holiness, Dr Syedna Burhanuddin was a world leader who led the Dawoodi Bohra community with sagacity and prescient judgment that commanded great respect.

and his father before him were very passionate about education, regardless of sex, and we have a reputation for having well educated boys and girls – most of whom have graduated from university.

Like all religions we are evolving as the world around us changes. These can be difficult times and there are pressures on our faith, as on every other faith, to change, modernize, and reform ourselves to cope with contempo-

I recently returned from a trip to India only to receive the news on 17 January that the religious head of the Dawoodi Bohra community, of which I am a member, had sadly passed away. On receiving the news I immediately booked a flight to return to India that evening to mourn this sad loss along with thousands of other followers of His Holiness Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin who had been our spiritual leader for 50 years.

The Dawoodi Bohra community is known worldwide for its entrepreneurship and the funds from our member entrepreneurs contribute to social good, including philanthropic efforts, building hospitals and schools and renovations and restorations of Islamic and Shi’a Islamic landmarks. We have a very small, tight-knit community made up of approximately one million adherents worldwide.

On Saturday 18 January we bade our farewell to this remarkable man, the Mumbai city was shrouded in white and thousands of people from the community took to the streets to pay their last respects. A large procession followed the Syedna to his final resting place, but very sadly our commu-

My memories of him stretch back to when I was a boy in India and he used to visit us with his father. He was accessible, never aloof. He traversed the globe giving advice, counselling the faithful, ensuring that the community was productively engaged in trade and commerce, and that they were worthy citizens of the countries they lived in.

He met many world leaders but treated everyone he met with the same respect.

His finest legacy was that he steered our community away from any form of extremism. He was a disciplinarian, but in a very logical way; firm but fair, he always gave a strong emphasis to education. Both His Holiness

rary influences.

The success of any following, be it a business, a faith or, dare I say it, a political party, is in having the right leader. His Holiness gave one injunction, in particular, that has allowed his followers to flourish around the globe.

He said, wherever you live you must be loyal to that country. There must be no attempt to subvert the religion, education, laws or behaviour of the host nation; there is no rule that says you must convert everyone you meet to Islam.

His Holiness spent his entire life preaching peace, brotherhood and dignity for mankind and our community was blessed to have such a wonderful leader.

Publishing house Penguin India blamed “intolerant and restrictive” Indian laws to remove author Wendy Doniger’s book – ‘The Hindus: An Alternative History’ from sale. It termed objections from a conservative Hindu group responsible for the decision and said that it would respect the laws of the land.

“We believe, however, that the Indian Penal Code, and in particular section 295A of that code, will make it increasingly difficult for any Indian publisher to uphold international standards of free expression without deliberately placing itself outside the law,” said the publisher adding that it is an issue of great significance not just for the protection of creative freedoms in India but also for the defence of fundamental human rights.

Meanwhile, Hindu Forum of Britain (HFB) Vice President Madhava Turumella challenged the author for an open debate on the book. “In the name of alternate thinking people like Wendy cast their evil and idiotic theories.

Your freedom of speech should not be our Insult.

We are becoming forced victims for this so called intellectuals who take the meaning of free speech to an absurd level. For Wendy, the Hinduism and the tenets that run the religion may be a fictional work.

But for billions of Indians, it’s divine,” said Turumella.

Indian writer Arundhatti Roy criticised Penguin for removal of the book. The Booker Prize winner said that she was more concerned by her publisher’s failure to defend the book in court.

The book removed by

Penguin, describes Hinduism as a pluralist, liberal and compassionate faith angered Hindu fundamentalists who said was written with Christian missionary zeal and over-sexualized Hindu gods. The group which took legal action cited its cover, which featured an image of Lord Krishna sitting on the buttocks of naked women, and claimed the book contained many inaccuracies.

The group of litigants, led by the veteran Hindu nationalist educationalist Dina Nath Batra, has indicated it may now take legal action against other books by the author.

As part of the out-ofcourt settlement, India’s Shiksha Bachao Andolan – or Save Education Movement, a conservative Hindu activist group which sued Penguin in 2011 over the book.

Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin

Controversy on removal of 'The Hindus'

26

INDIA

IN FOCUS

Kejriwal resigns

After 49 turbulent days at the helm of affairs, finally Aam Adami Party (AAP) leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal gave resignation.

With the AAP government’s abrupt end in Delhi, debate is now raging over the future of the insurgent party, whose remarkable debut in the city’s local polls a few months ago prompted talk of its potential to emerge as a disruptive force in the country’s 2014 parliamentary elections. Critics say the young AAP’s short stint in power – and its quick exit – has proven it is not a serious party of governance. However many believe that the AAP’s confrontational tactics and Mr Kejriwal’s renunciation of his post over a point of principle – a rare move in Indian politics – have bolstered the AAP’s appeal among the poor and working classes and are likely to pay dividends in general elections.

Drive to eradicate Elephantiasis

In a drive to eradicate one of the world’s most debilitating tropical diseases by 2020, more than 500 million Indians are to receive annual pills.

Elephantiasis is a parasitic illness that causes the body extremities gradually to swell with fluid — often to a grotesque size — leading to frequent bouts of sepsis, which can kill. It affects more than 40 million people in India and at least 120 million globally. The programme is backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, GlaxoSmithKline, the British pharmaceutical company, and the US and UK governments. India has had considerable success in wiping out disease through health programmes. It has wiped out smallpox and not had a case of polio for three years.

28 jobs in 28 weeks

Jubanashwa Mishra worked as a photographer, a teacher, a film executive, an emotional support consultant and a river rafting guide among others in just 28 weeks. In fact he changed jobs every week and traveled more than 15000 miles criss-crossing India. The 29-year-old started the project in May 2013 after leaving his job as a software engineer in Chennai because he was not passionate about it.

He said he hoped the challenge would inspire youngsters to explore their own passion and discover a profession they really want to do. 'Through my one job a week project in India, I have tried to break this trend. I hope it will inspire the youngsters of tomorrow to follow their dreams,' says Mishra whose challenge saw him travel to 28 Indian states via different modes of transport, including plane, train, bus, car, taxi, auto rickshaw and motorbike. He took on jobs in Manipur, Bihar, Rajasthan, Kerela and Gujurat and other places before returning home, where he now works as a writer and motivational speaker.

Marriage registration certificate via video-conferencing

Paving the way for couples, especially those living abroad, to register their marriages in absentia, Delhi high court has said that these certificates can be issued via video-conferencing. Justice Manmohan, allowing this to a newly-wed couple based in Canada, said that the rule mandating physical presence while applying for registration was "framed at a time when technology was nascent". The court said the family members could take delivery of the marriage certificate once the couple confirms this through video-conferencing.

Rajiv killers' death sentence converted to life imprisonment

Supreme Court commuted the death sentence to the three assassins of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to life imprisonment, holding that the 11year long delay in deciding their mercy petition had a dehumanizing effect on them. The apex court bench headed by Chief Justice P. Sathasivam said that the delay was not only inordinate but also unreasonable and unexplained. The court said that life imprisonment would mean life in jail till end. Gandhi was killed in 1991. His assassins were convicted by a TADA court in January 1998 and were awarded death sentence, which was confirmed by the apex court May 11, 1999. The three assassins - V. Sriharan alias Murugan, A.G. Perarivlan alias Arivu and T. Suthendraraja alias Santhan - sought the commutation of their death sentence to life imprisonment on account of the inordinate delay of nearly 11-years in deciding their mercy petitions.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

Direct taxes remain unchanged in India’s Interim budget

India’s finance minister P Chidambaram kept direct taxes unchanged keeping upcoming general elections in mind in the interim budget for four months. In a populist measure, he couldn’t resist to slash excise duty on cars, SUVs and two-wheelers and capital goods and consumer durables to boost manufacturing and growth.

Presenting the interim Union Budget for 2014-15, he also provided service tax exemption for storage and warehousing of rice like it was done in case of paddy last year. Also, blood banks have been exempted from its purview. The 1 per cent surcharge on 'super-rich' having income above Rs 10 million in a year, and the 5 per cent surcharge on corporates imposed last year, has been allowed to lapse with the finance minister saying, "In keeping with the conventions I do not propose to make any announcements regarding changes to the tax laws."

The budget document does not give figures of the indirect tax concessions, which are valid up to June 30, 2014 and could be reviewed later. He justified the excise duty relief saying, "However, the current economic situation demands some interventions that cannot wait for

the regular Budget. In particular, the manufacturing sector needs an immediate boost." Customs duty structure on non-edible grade industrial oils and its fractions, fatty acids and fatty alcohols has been pegged at 7.5 per cent to encourage to domestic production of soaps and oleo chemicals.

Similarly, a concessional customs duty of 5 per cent on capital goods imported by Bank Note Paper Mill India Pvt Ltd has been provided to encourage to indigenous production of security paper for printing currency notes. Giving budget estimates, the minister said the current financial year will end on a satisfactory note with the fiscal deficit at 4.6 per cent, below the redline of 4.8 per cent, and the revenue deficit at 3.3 per cent.

The fiscal deficit for 2014-15 has been pegged at 4.1 per cent, which will be below the target of 4.2 per cent set by the new fiscal consolidation path.

Revenue deficit is estimated at 3 per cent.

Plan expenditure for the coming fiscal has been fixed at Rs 5,553.22 billion, unchanged from current year, and non-Plan expenditure at Rs 12,078.92 billion, marginally higher than 2013-14.

Continued from page 1 when chances of BJP to come into power are bright. The US envoy, however, used diplomatic tactic and made it a point to meet Leader of opposition in Gujarat Assembly Shankersinh Vaghela.

In the meeting at Modi’s residence ambassador Powell held comprehensive and wide ranging discussions with Modi covering all facets of the IndoUS relationship and cooperation, in the wider global context.

According to Gujarat government statement, she fondly recollected her earlier visits to Gujarat, and expressed happiness on having come again. The US envoy was also impressed by the changes and development in Gujarat, said an official in the Gujarat Chief Minister’s office adding that Powell also appreciated the fact that American businesses were pleased with the speed of decision making, as well as clear procedures in place in Gujarat. Powell expressed keenness to take best practices of governance from Gujarat to be incubated and implemented in developing countries for the benefit of people there.

This included the Chiranjeevi Yojana, which

has improved mother and child health through institutional delivery.

During the meeting Modi highlighted the strong foundations of the US-India ‘Strategic partnership’ laid by former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. He also mentioned Vajpayee’s various initiatives for peace in India’s neighborhood. He reiterated BJP’s commitment to further strengthen this partnership.

He expressed concern over the recent ill-treatment of an Indian lady diplomat in New York, and expressed hope that a permanent solution would be found soon. Ambassador Powell reassured that the US government was fully committed to resolving this issue at the earliest possible. Modi emphasized that for strengthening the IndoUS ‘Strategic partnership’ and realize its full potential, it is important that such irritants should not be allowed to happen.

Modi also focused on the need to have a single global yardstick on terrorism, as well as the need to isolate terrorist groups irrespective of their base or victims. He emphasized that the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai attack must be quickly brought to justice.

US envoy hails Modi’s ‘development model’

Koirala sworn in Nepal PM

Continued from page 1 Congress, took his oath before President Ram Baran Yadav during a ceremony at his office.

On Monday, the silverhaired bachelor easily won a vote of legislators in the constituent assembly, which was elected last November in only the second national polls since the end of a civil war in 2006.

After the vote, Koirala pledged to steer through a long-delayed new constitution within a year, to complete the nation's stalled peace process.

"We will deliver the constitution through agreement, unity and reconciliation," Koirala, who was once jailed over the hijacking of a plane in India, told reporters after the vote.

Koirala's elevation is also expected to pave the way for the formation of a

new coalition government charged with ending a prolonged political crisis that has crippled Nepal's economy.

The Nepali Congress party, which won the most seats at the polls, gained the support of the Unified Marxist-Leninist party on the weekend to form a coalition government, although details have not yet been worked out.

Since Nepal's first post-war elections in 2008, five prime ministers have served brief terms, the country has had no leader for long periods, and the constituent assembly has been perpetually deadlocked.

The first version of the assembly, dominated by the one-time rebel Maoists, finally collapsed in May 2012 after failing to agree on a constitution and complete the peace process.

Continued from page 1 a voice vote. Named as ‘The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill’ it was fiercely opposed by Andhra Pradesh MPs and was supported by a section of the opposition parties.

Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde moved the bill to create a separate state of Telangana state in the Lok Sabha. Some of the protesting members of the house, including a cabinet minister rushed near the Speaker’s chair shouting slogans against the bill.

They, however ignored as majority of the members were in favour of the bill.

However, an amendment to make Hyderabad as capital of proposed Telangana state was defeated in the house.

An enraged Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, leader of the YSR Congress, called it "a black day" in the history of India and announced a general strike in Andhra Pradesh. "The bill was passed in parliament against the will of the (Andhra) assembly, against the will of the people of Andhra Pradesh," he said.

Shinde said Seemandhra will be given special package. The telecast of the Lok Sabha proceedings debating the Telangana bill was stopped on the request of speaker Meira Kumar, which was criticized by those opposing the Telangana bill. TDP MP YS Chowdhary came down heavily on the Congress and said that the oldest political party in the country was doing dirty politics and the speaker acted as agent of the Congress.

A cabinet minister and three legislators of the ruling Congress party in Andhra Pradesh resigned to protest the state's bifurcation. Meanwhile, to protest the passage of the bill, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar

Reddy is planning to resign.

Law minister E Pratap Reddy confirmed that the chief minister would put in his papers soon and may float a new political party.

The main opposition party BJP said it was in favour of separate state but concerns of the region should be addressed.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi assured central ministers and party MPs from Seemandhra that justice would be done to their region.

Union Minister of State for Finance JD Seelam told reporters after a meeting with Gandhi that they submitted their demands including making Hyderabad a union territory for a specific period, sharing of revenue of Hyderabad between Telangana and Seemandhra and special packages for north coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, and hoped these would be considered. Cracking the whip, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar suspended 18 MPs from Andhra Pradesh for rest of the session after unprecedented pandemonium broke out in the House over the Telangana issue earlier. An Andhra Pradesh MP expelled from the Congress for opposing Telangana's formation shocked the nation when he used pepper spray during another tumultuous day in the Lok Sabha. The first of its kind act in parliament sent scores of MPs and Lok Sabha officials - and even some journalists in the media gallery - running for cover, coughing violently and with a burning sensation in eyes. As Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal was quickly overpowered by fellow MPs and marshals, a pungent odour enveloped the lower house, adding to the chaos caused by sloganeering.

Lok Sabha passes Telangana bill

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

Sportsman turned tycoon creates national brand

Dhirendra Singh comes from humble background from a small village near Banaras in Uttar Pradesh (UP).

The 52-years-old former basketball player ventured into beverage business nearly 16 years ago with a small investment of Rs 250,000 (hardly £ 3,100). However, over a period of time he created a brand called ‘Mango Sip’, a purely Indian brand which is taking on multinational giants in the Indian market

Mayuri Dave

Born in an average Indian middleclass joint family, Dhirendra Singh grew up amidst farm, fields, orchard and riversides.

The former volleyball player moved from UP to Vadodara in Gujarat and worked with some companies in petroleum as well as in realestate sector.

Having entrepreneurial mindset, Singh was looking to start a business. On a tip-off from a friend, he decided to jump into beverages business.

Though, he registered his firm ‘Manpasand Beverages’ in Va d o d a r a , S i n g h l a u n c h e d mango juice Dhirendra Singh with the brand name ‘Mango Sip’ in his home state ing days to enhance proUttar Pradesh that too in duction capacity from tier-2 and tier-3 cities. existing 75,000 cases per Instantly, the product day to 150,000 cases per received encouraging day. More importantly, response and dealers the company has decided were ready to pay in not to put any product in advance. the market which is not “With that humble good for health. To ensure beginning, we expanded that each of their clients our business in 20 states is delivered healthy drink, in India. Apart from me, the company has decided my entire marketing not to add any content team, criss-crossed the having adverse effects to health. country many times since Apart from Mango last one and half decade and as result of it, we are Sip, the company has also one of the leading players put other fruit juice prodin the mango juice segucts in the market like, ment in Indian market,” Apple Sip, Guava Sip & says Singh, who is also Litchi Sip. However, 96 Managing Director of the per cent business comes company. from mango product only.

According to him his Manpasand’s turnover products are giving a was Rs 3 billion in 2012tough competition to 13 and now it is targeting some of the multinational to treble its sales to Rs 1o and national brands probillion. In 2011, SAIF moted by Coca Cola, Partners India had investPepsi Co, Godrej to name ed $ 10 million in a few. Singh wants to Manpasand Beverages for popularize his products a minority stake.

“With our flagship in international market, brand Mango Sip, we but according to him, still have a basket of 25 prodthere is a lot of space in uct variants. Mango Sip domestic market and his has grown to become the company despite having fourth largest mango three manufacturing facildrink brand in India," ities at Savli in Gujarat, said Singh. Manpasand’s Dehradun in Uttarakhand beverage brands are availand Varanasi in Uttar able in over 20 states Pradesh is not able to through more than cope up with the increas200,000 retailers, over ing orders.

2,000 distributors and Manpasand Beverages 200-plus super stockists.

Private Limited’s mantra To further penetrate in of success is 'Of India the market, the company For India'. Established in has roped-in Hindi film 1998, Manpasand action hero Sunny Deol Beverages plans to pump as its brand ambassador. in Rs 1 billion in the com-

INDIA

Getting ready for Yoga

27

Yoga is a means to achieve good health, reduce stress and attain contentment. The only way to achieve these is regular practice. Yoga needs to be treated with some seriousness and should be approached with discipline and dedication for it to be effective.

Where should I practice?

Although yoga can be practiced anywhere, it would be helpful to have a dedicated space exclusively devoted to yoga. This place should be moderately warm and have good air circulation. The space should be adequately lit and be free from obstructions thus allowing for free movement. It is important to turn off all kinds of distractions such as TV, phone etc in order to maintain a quiet ambience.

Home practice is good for those who want to reflect inwards trying to understand themselves deeply at their own pace.

Alternatively, those who seek the feeling of a community and the energy of a group may initially opt for a public class. However, it is still important to establish a personal practice at some stage because while one learns in a public class, it is only through personal practice that one converts this learning into one’s own.

When should I practice?

Early morning is a good time to practice yoga since the mind and body are fresh and relaxed at this time. If one suffers from muscle stiffness, afternoon or early evening may be better since the

About the Author

Dr. Rohini Vijaygopal was introduced to yoga right from her childhood. However, she started practising yoga more meticulously since 2004. She has been trained traditionally in India by her Guru from Yoga Vidyapeetam. Later she trained from The British School of Yoga in the UK and obtained a Diploma in Yoga Teacher course. She has also attended various other yoga Shibirs to add to her existing knowledge on yoga and meditation, the latest one being conducted by Baba Ramdev. Rohini can be contacted at rohinivijaygopal@gmail.com.

body tends to more flexible by this time.

Alternately, a warm shower preceding the yoga practice can increase the flexibility in the muscles.

Some asanas such as Shavasana could also be beneficial when practiced late in the evening because they aid relaxation and help one achieve sound sleep.

What should I wear?

One could wear any clothing that is comfortable and not too tight-fitting or restrictive.

Clothing should allow for free movement of the body and therefore it is advisable to avoid baggy clothing lest they get caught up while performing asanas. Yoga is normally performed bare foot unless there is a compelling reason to do otherwise.

When should I eat?

It is preferable to practice asanas on an empty stomach. One should wait for at least three hours after a large meal and at least 2 hours after a light meal.

Light beverages can be consumed after the practice but solid foods should be avoided for one hour. As an exception, asanas which aid digestion such as Va j r a s a n a c o u l d also be performed after a meal if needed.

Will I need any props?

In an ideal situation, the only prop that one might need is a yoga mat.

However, for a beginner or for those with

Modi’s campaign over tea gets resounding response in 300 cities

AV correspondent

BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi kicked-off a unique ‘Discussion over Tea’ (Cahai Pe Charcha) , in which he talked about issues ranging from black money, taxation, terrorism, revenue record, tackling short fall of energy, u skill development, Indian Railways and even criticized arch rival Congress party for bad-governance.

The barb ‘Chaiwala’ (tea vendor) on Modi came as boomerang for the Congress party as it was converted into a major campaign point for the Gujarat Chief Minister, who actually set at a Tea cum snacks stall ‘Iskon Gandhia’ situated on Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar highway. Not only that, he in fact connected with nearly 1000 tea-stalls across 300 cities in the country using technology.

Modi answered questions raised from cities like Vadodara, Banglore, Pune, Delhi (Gudgaon, Noida), Pune, Cuttack, Nasik,

Lacknow, Udaypur, Ajmer and Patna and many other cities.

While initiating discussion based on ‘Good Governance’ theme, Modi said that he would like to reach to at least 2 crore people through ‘Chai Pe Charcha’ program in coming days. The organizers Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG), established by 100 like-minded young professionals announced to host another ‘Chai Pe Charcha’ on ‘Women Empowerment’ theme.

In an answer pertaining to black money lying in foreign banks, Modi said that if his government would come into power, the priority will be bringing back ‘stolen money’ for

the development of the country.

“We would utilize 10 per cent of black money for the benefit of fix salaried people and honest taxpayers,” he said.

Modi struck a chord by remembering historic icons like Chanakya for taxation, Todarmal for revenue record and Shershah Suri for infrastructure development saying that their principles were universal but we need to make suitable in context of contemporary situations.

Criticizing the Congress for bad-governance while answering questions on election promises, he said that the Congress promised to give free electricity to farmers in the assembly elections in Gujarat.

“Unlike Gujarat, in many Congress ruled state, the Congress failed to provide electricity. So there is no question of giving electricity. The peasants want electricity and they are ready to pay for it,” he said.

muscle flexibility that is less than ideal, there are several props that could be used in order to make yoga better for the body.

Blankets, bolsters, blocks, straps and chairs are the various types of props that can be used to support the body during various asanas.

Yoga is not just theory but is a lot about the actual practice. Therefore, in order to achieve progress, there is no other way than to practice regularly. In order to be realistic, one could start small initially and then work one’s way up. This could be as little as just laying out the yoga mat and practising one simple asana to start with.

As one consciously continues to make an effort to practice and when this practice becomes firmly established, one starts to see real improvements in life. At this stage, yoga becomes self-propelling and becomes a way of life.

No fare, freight hike in rail budget

In the interim railway budget presented in the Parliament, fares and freight remained unchanged in view of impending general elections. India's stateowned railways are the world's fourth-largest, with 65,000 km (40,000 miles) of track, after the United States, China and Russia, but have suffered from years of low investment and a lack of policy reforms.

Railways Minister Mallikarjun Kharge said the department would rely on budgetary support as well market borrowing to invest in new tracks. The budget for four months envisages Annual rail plan at Rs. 640 billion with a budgetary support of approximately Rs. 300 billion.

The Railway minister also proposed to set up an independent Rail Tariff Authority to rationalize fares and there was a proposal to expand dynamic pricing of tickets in line with the airline industry.

28

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

Shriya making a comeback A

ctress Shriya Saran is making a comeback to Tamil silver screen. The Tamil version of her bilingual film “Chandra” is being released by Abirami Ramanathan all over Tamil Nadu. The Kannada version released last year and garnered positive reviews and decent box office collections. The film touted as a historical fantasy film has been directed Roopa Iyer.

Shriya Saran has acted as a princess in this film. It's a character which is well versed in various art forms as well as self combating techniques. Shriya has learnt Kalaripayattu, an ancient Indian martial art for her role in this film. For an actress generally known as a glamour girl who has proved her performance skills in a few films, this film is expected give equal importance in both the departments as suggested by the trailers.

Andrea Jeremiah composes a song for 'Taramani'

S

inger-actress Andrea Jeremiah, who works mainly in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam film industries, has for the first time composed a song, titled 'Soul of Taramani', for upcoming Tamil romanticdrama 'Taramani'. The track will be released by actor-filmmaker

South sensation Meera Jasmine ties knot

T

he marriage of noted South Indian actress Meera Jasmine with IT professional Anil John Titus was solemnised at a simple function at a Church in Thiruvananthapuram.

The marriage ceremony was attended by close relatives of the two besides actors Suresh Gopi and Kavya Madhavan among others. Registeration of their marriage as per Special Marriage Act was held at the residence of Jasmine on Sunday in Kochi.

Kamal Haasan. "I had no idea she can compose songs as well. I know she's an actor as well as a singer, but when I listened to her compositions, I was pleasantly surprised. I really liked one of her tunes and felt that it would be apt for my story," the film's director Ram Subramaniam said.

Film director Balu Mahendra passes away B

alu Mahendra, one of Tamil cinema's best-known directors, died of heart attack last week. He was 74.

Mahendra started his career in the cinema industry as a cinematographer and won several awards for it. An alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, Mahendra worked in movies in Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam and won five national film awards.

New Release

‘Highway’

ighway” is a Bollywood movie directed by Imtiaz Ali “H and produced by Sajid Nadiadwala.

It stars Randeep Hooda and Alia Bhatt in the lead roles. The film was screened in the Panorama section of the 2014 Berlin international film festival. The story is about a city girl, full of life, is on the highway at

night with her fiancé. They were about to get married in four days.

Suddenly, her life has swung away from the brocade and jewellery of marriage to the harsh brutality of abduction. The story focuses on how any type of freedom can change the life of a person in a matter of hours.

Mahendra was one of Tamil cinema's avantdirectors, garde almost always handling everything for his movie - from the script to the camera and direction. While his movies were always ahead of their time, in terms of technology Mahendra preferred to be in the old school - he never switched to digital technology and always shot with film.

Anushka back to No rift with work after ‘lip job’ Salman: Sonakshi Bollywood actress Sonakshi Sinha quashed actress Anushka Sharma seems all rumours regarding any have moved on from the lip job Btoollywood bad blood between her controversy as she smiled for the photographers at the airport. The actress, who had also released a statement denying undergoing any plastic surgery and claimed that her bee-stung lips were due to some lip-enhancing tool and new makeup techniques, made no effort to hide from the waiting paparazzi at the airport.

Instead, she braved a smile as she walked past.

Anushka was also in the news for her alleged relationship with cricketer Virat Kohli, after the duo was spotted hand-inhand in New Zealand.

mentor Salman Khan and herself.

Sonakshi, who was launched by Salman Khan in his brother Arbaaz Khan’s film ‘Dabangg’, was reported to have had a tiff with the Khan brothers.

29

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

Latest Nargis Fakhri turns dietician odel-turned actress Nargis Fakhri has M become dietician for her

upcoming film ‘Main Tera Hero’. Nargis, who herself shed weight by going on a special juice diet, made her co-star Illeana D’Cruz try the same for one of the scenes in the film.

“I had a great time shooting in Bangkok. While

I was there I always wanted to try a juice cleanse. I have heard and researched great things about giving your body a break from regular or junk food, so I decided to try a six day juice cleanse. I lost three kilos in six days,” Nargis said.

She also said that seeing her diet course, Illeana got curious whom she con-

vinced to try it. But she could do it only for one day, the actress said.

‘Main Tera Hero’, a contemporary commercial Bollywood entertainer, features Varun Dhawan, Nargis Fakhri and Illeana D’Cruz. Produced by Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Motion Pictures, the film hits cinema houses on April 4.

Ash to make a comeback

Abhishek Bachchan named ambassador for END7 campaign

The Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases (Global Network) named Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan as its first official END7 campaign ambassador in India to help raise awareness of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Abhishek joins the END7 campaign with India at the tipping point of achieving control and elimination of five NTDs affecting 500 million people by 2020.

“India represents 35 per cent of the total global burden for NTDs, causing massive suffering among our poorest citizens. As a parent, I am deeply moved by the devastating toll of NTDs on children, and I want to ensure that no Indian child has to suffer needlessly,” said Abhishek.

“I am proud to serve as the END7 campaign’s ambassador in India and hope that others will join me in ridding our country of these preventable diseases.”

Abhishek will play a key role in drawing attention to NTDs as an achievable health priority for India, educating the public about the impact of NTDs and the importance of complying with free NTD treatment programs, while also encouraging national and state level policymakers to continue making the cost-effective investment in NTD programs.

“We have already defeated smallpox, guinea worm and polio in India. NTDs can be our next major public health success story, and we are on track to eliminate lymphatic filariasis very soon. A focus on NTD control and elimination also represents one of the best investments we can make in the health and economic future of

Ex-president of Mexico visits Shah Rukh ormer Mexican President Vicente Fox F dropped in on the sets of

“Happy New Year,” to meet Shah Rukh Khan. Fox was accompanied by his wife Martha Fox and the Mexican ambassador to India Jamie Nualart. They discussed everything from Bollywood films to matters about Mexico and the importance of education. Fox said, "We have been visiting many places, but after meeting SRK and talking to him, we feel he is a great person. We hope that Shah Rukh would visit us at M ex i c o some day."

ollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who has been on a B sabbatical post the birth of her

our country,” said Anshu Prakash, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. “We are happy that the Global Network is supporting our efforts to control and eliminate these diseases of poverty.”

“India currently runs some of the largest NTD control and elimination programs in the world, signaling its commitment to improving the plight of millions of people,” said Dr. Neeraj Mistry, managing director of the Global Network.

The seven most common NTDs - hookworm, ascariasis (roundworm), trichuriasis (whipworm), schistosomiasis (snail fever), lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis), onchocerciasis (river blindness) and trachoma - infect more than 1 in 6 people worldwide. They cause blindness, massive swelling in appendages and limbs, disfigurement, severe malnutrition and anemia.

NTDs prevent children from growing and learning. They reduce adults’ economic productivity and ability to care for their families, keeping communities trapped in a cycle of poverty and disease.

Govinda, Karisma come together

ne of the most popular on-screen jodis of Indian cinema - Govinda and Karisma Kapoor - shared O screen space with each other after almost a decade

when they shot for an episode of Sunil Grover's show, “Mad in India - 100 % Desi show.” Their last film together was “Shikari,” which was released in 2000.

The first episode of Mad in India will see Baba Ramdev on the couch. The next episode will see Govinda and Karisma interacting with host and funnyman Manish Paul. Manish said, "Interviewing them was fabulous. I have grown up dancing to their songs. So sharing stage with them was an honour.”

daughter, is all set to make a comeback on the big screen in a film directed by her favourite filmmaker Mani Ratnam.

According to reports, Aishwarya has given her consent to the Mani Ratnam. There has been much speculation as to when the former beauty queen will make a comeback on the silver screen, who was last seen in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Guzarish.’ Even though Aishwarya has not been seen in films for the past three years, she has remained in limelight in various ad campaigns and international film festivals like Cannes.

Aishwarya, who is very close to Mani Ratnam, has worked with him in ‘Iruvar’, ‘Guru’ and ‘Raavan’.

Aishwarya was seen with hubby Abhishek in ‘Raavan’ but reports suggest that Mani Ratnam only wants Aishwarya for this movie.

A source said: “Mani Ratnam shares a fabulous equation with Abhishek and Ash. But this time he’s planning to direct a film which has a very strong female protagonist’s character. Mani feels there is little room for Abhishek in his next.”

Juhi Chawla wishes to work with Salman ctress Juhi Chawla, who A has worked with

stars like Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan in her prime, hopes that someday she is paired with Salman Khan in a movie. "I hope I get to work with Salman...he will not work with me because he hasn't in all these years," Juhi even as she laughed. "I don't see that happening. But I never thought I will be working with Madhuri (Dixit)... so you never know. I would love to do anything which is justified on papers," she added.

30

UK

Freedom to Speak Seminar

- Dhiren Katwa

Aspiring young citizens from the West Midlands are being invited to share their personal concerns and aspirations as part of an exciting new seminar series.

The first event, being launched next week, is themed 'Freedom to Speak: Your Europe? Your Future?'

The seminar will provide a platform for young people to discuss and debate issues which affect them and the communities in which they live.

The event has been organised by InterLanD, a specialist research centre

based at Aston University, in partnership with the European Commission.

Jill Robinson, Project Manager at InterLanD, said: "With a rapidly evolving society, we are keen to hear the views, thoughts, suggestions and comments of citizens, particularly younger people, who are the future of Europe."

The seminar series will be officially launched next Tuesday (25 Feb) at 6.00pm at Lozells Methodist Church, 163 Gerrard Street, B19 2AH. To register your free place telephone Leena Patel on 0121 204 5267 or email l.patel2@aston.ac.uk

Video shows Syria suicide bomber as British lorry driver from Sussex

A suicide bomber, who set off a lorry bomb with him inside, by a prison in Aleppo, Syria, in an attempt to free prisoners, can be revealed to be Abdul Waheed Majeed, pictured, a lorry driver for the Highways Agency from Crawley, West Sussex.

The video was posted on YouTube on Saturday 15 February and shows footage of the lorry bomb accelerating towards the prison. It shows the explosion and a pillar of rising smoke, as other fighters chant: “God is greatest.”

The bomber, with the alias Abu Suleiman alBritani, is approached by the cameraman who speaks to him in Arabic.

Mr Majeed is heard explaining apologetically that he speaks only English. Other information has surfaced from Birmingham-based charity Children in Deen, who confirmed that the married father of three had registered with them three days before he left the UK, along with a friend, Raheed Mahmood.

Counter-terrorism investigators this week searched the home of Mr Majeed, who left Crawley for Syria last summer. It has since been revealed that he was a longstanding supporter of the banned extremist group alMuhajiroun and acted as a driver for its leader “Sheikh” Omar Bakri.

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Coming Events

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

l Wednesday 19th February 2014 – 'Challenges to the Sikh Nation: Are we prepared for the future?' from 6pm – 7.30pm at City University, Room AG07, Northampton Square, Islington, EC1V 0NB. Contact: 07960 185 387. l Thursday 20th February 2014 – Sikhi: Religion or Revolution? From 5.30 – 8pm at Ernst & Young, 1 More London Place, SE1 2AF, London.

Contact: 07960 185 387. l Saturday 22nd February 2014 – 'Engaging with 1984: Inspiring the Next Generation of Sikh Activists from 9.30am – 4pm at Norwood Hall, Norwood Green Road, Southall, UB2 4LA. Contact: 07960 185 387. l Sunday 23rd February 2014 – 'The Role of the Gurdwara in the Sikh Revolution' from 6pm – 7.00pm at Singh Sabha Southall, Park Avenue, Southall, UB1 3AG. Contact: 07960 185 387. l Sunday 23rd February 2014 – Jham!

Bharatanatyam by Nina Rajrani Dance Creations at 6pm at The Bhavan Centre, 4a Castletown Road, West Kensington, London W14 9HE. Contact: 020 7381 3086. l Thursday 27th February 2014 – The President and Executive Committee of Mahatma Gandhi Foundation cordially invite you to a special prayer meeting and observe Gandhiji's Nirvan Day from 6.30pm at Kadva Patidar Centre, Kenmore Avenue, Harrow, HA3 8LU. l Thursday 27th February 2014 – Maha Shivratri Celebrations from 6.30pm till late at Hunt Hall, Tolworth Recreation Centre, Hook Rise North, Tolworth Surrey, KT6 7LQ. l Sunday 1st March 2014 – Anuj Popat & Pavan Mamtora invite you to 108 Hanuman Chalisa in the aid of charity from 10am onwards at The John Lyon School, Middle Road, Harrow, HA2 0HN. Contact: 0208 515 9400. l Sunday 2nd March 2014 – Subrang Arts presents Janak Dulari Sita at 4.15pm at Epsom Playhouse, Ashley Avenue, Epsom, KT18 5AS. Contact: 0208 949 3594. l Saturday 15th March – Music and Dance Soiree from 6pm at The Bhavan Centre, 4a Castletown Road, West Kensington, London W14 9HE. Contact: 020 7381 3086.

Responsibility is your key word, especially at work. Set your own goals, rather than trying to meet those set by someone else. Your ability to manage what you have on your plate earns respect from others around you. You will benefit in every way if you learn to self-discipline and pace yourself wisely.

ARIES Mar 21 - Apr 20

TAURUS Apr 21 - May 21 At work sometimes a little upheaval and chaos is exactly what you need to set things right again. There’s no need to be complacent: the time is now. Unpredictable energies continue to influence your health sector, bringing erratic highs and lows. The key for you as always is to remain calm and collected.

Developments during this week are likely to make you feel rather restless, perhaps because you have allowed yourself to fall into a routine that is now becoming jaded. If so, then the hint of change will be extremely welcome, even if it might entail an element of disruption. Adaptable and versatile, as you are, it is unlikely that even a major change will faze you.

GEMINI May 22 - June 22

CANCER Jun 22 - Jul 22 You know you’ve got no choice but to streamline and reassess your priorities before haphazardly saying yes to everything that smells like a potential opportunity. Try to create a balance between expansion and conservation. Jupiter in sign makes you feel invincible, base your decisions on facts.

LEO Jul 23 - Aug 23

You have everything to gain by following creative inclinations. If you have new ideas, now is the time to put them into practice. Whatever your present interests you are likely to find that new doors open and the way ahead offers increased scope for expressing your real self. A great time to meet and interact with people.

VIRGO Aug 24 - Sep 23 An exchange of opinions ought to prove very enlivening at this time.

An influence that should help to enjoy the 'nicer' side of others as bring out the best in friends, colleagues and partners alike. A wind of change may be in the air; attention should turn to the wider world and benefits come from broadening of horizons and mental stimuli.

LIBRA Sep 24 - Oct 23 This is a good time to appreciate what you have already created in your life. Of course, there are still challenging issues on both a personal and practical level. To get here you may have overcome obstacles by making important decision and choices that set the direction of your life.

Consulting Editor: Bhupatbhai Parekh, Ahmedabad, Gujarat Tel: +91 79 2630 4142 Urvashi Jagadeesan (India) Mumbai: Kanti Bhatt, Hemraj Shah (Jumbo Advertiser) Horizon Advertising & Marketing: 205, Shalibhadra Complex, Opp. Jain Derasar,Nr. Nehru Nagar Circle, Ambawadi, Ahmedabad. Tel / Fax: +91 79 2646 5960 Email: horizon.marketing@abplgroup.com General Manager: Sanat Trivedi (M) +91 94293 65619 Email: sanat.trivedi@abplgroup.com Business Manager: Hardik Shah (M) +91 99250 42936 Email: hardik.shah@abplgroup.com Advertising Manager: Neeta Patel (Vadodara) M: +91 98255 11702 Email: neeta_abplgroup@yahoo.co.in Assistant Marketing Manager: Manish Shah (Vadodara) M: +91 96876 06824 Email: manish.shah@abplgroup.com Business Co-ordinator: Shrijit Rajan M: +91 98798 82312 Email: shrijit.rajan@abplgroup.com International Advertisement Representative: Jain Group (South India) Tel: +91 44 42041122/3/4 Fax: +91 44 25362973 Mumbai: +91 222471 4122 Email: jain@jaingroup.net Delhi Office: Tel: +91 44 9311581597

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AsianVoiceNews

SCORPIO Oct 24- Nov 22 You will continue to be in a restless mood for some time to come. This makes you impatient with restrictions and even more determined to cut your own path. Do not get over-anxious if everything seems to be in slow motion - it is time to pull a few strings. You are likely to experience some tension in close relationships..

The fiery planet Mars is the moving force in regard to amorous experience, giving more than just a hint that links between lovers will be rather intense and passionate. Your attitude to material interests is likely to undergo some deep change. On a material level the trend greatly favours anything geared towards establishing greater financial stability.

SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 - Dec 21

CAPRICORN Dec 22 - Jan 20

Anything or anyone that drains your time and energy should be re-evaluated. It’s time to use that creative imagination of yours to create grandeur in your life. Don't get too carried away and lose sight of little things that mean a lot to you.

There are a lot of opportunities around you.

If your ambitions have been undefined, don't worry as from now on, you understand exactly what kind of impact you need to make on the world. All those little details should run perfectly, without you constantly worrying. That means you can focus on matters that are important to you. Healthwise you will be feeling fit.

AQUARIUS Jan 21 - Feb 19

You should enjoy a very popular phase in your life where everyone wants to invite you to parties. This will give you a chance to meet people and pursue any romantic liaisons that might present themselves. Your communications are extremely high making it easy to close those lucrative deals.

PISCES Feb 20 - Mar 20

Yuvraj, Karthik go for record price at IPL auction

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

Flamboyant all-rounder Yuvraj Singh was sold to Royal Challengers Bangalore for a staggering Rs 140 million while Dinesh Karthik was bought by Delhi Daredevils for a whopping Rs 125 million in the players' auction for the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Yuvraj and Karthik fetched the highest price among the 16 top players, who were up for grabs in the first session of auction.

Besides Karthik, Daredevils, who didn't retain any player, bought back former England captain Kevin Pietersen for Rs 90 million and Murali Vijay for a handsome Rs 50 million. Vijay, who was earlier with Chennai Super Kings, was the first cricketer to go under the hammer.

"Morning - so happy to be back with the Delhi family! Lovely start to the day," Pietersen, the former England captain, said on his Twitter account.

The second cricketer up for auction was Sri

Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene, who was the only one among the marquee players to go unsold.

Pietsersen was first sold to Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 90 million but Daredevils used the Right to Match (RTM) card to buy him back.

Royal Challengers almost got Yuvraj for Rs 40 million cheaper but auctioneer Richard Madley had to open the bidding again after he missed Knight Riders bid.

What followed next was a close battle between Royal Challangers and Knight Riders and finally the Bangalore franchise

sealed the deal.

Australia's Ashes hero Mitchell Johnson was sold to Kings XI Punjab for Rs 65 million while his compatriot David Warner went to Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 55 million.

Virender Sehwag went to Kings XI Punjab for Rs 32 million while Kolkata Knight Riders used their RTM card to buy back South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis for Rs 55 million that was made by Chennai Super Kings.

In the next set of marquee players, Australia's T20 captain George Bailey went to Kings XI for Rs 32.5 million while Sunrisers used their RTM card to buy back West

Indies Test and T20 captain Darren Sammy from Daredevils for Rs 35 million.

Super Kings also used their only RTM card to buy back South African Faf du Plesis from Daredevils for Rs 47.5 million. Kiwi captain Brendon McCullum went to Super Kings for Rs 32.5 million.

Jackpot for uncapped Karn Sharma, Rishi Dhawan Two 23-year-old uncapped players, Karn Sharma and Rishi Dhawan, earned windfall contracts of over Rs 30 million each on the second and concluding day of the auction. Meerut-born legspinner Sharma, with a base price of Rs 3000,000, ended up with a purse of Rs 37.5 million as his 2013 team Sunrisers outbid Kings XI Punjab.

However, Punjab bagged all-rounder Dhawan (base price Rs 2000,000), hailing from Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, for Rs 30 million after a battle with Sunrisers.

IPL may be shifted to SA due to elections

The seventh edition of the high-profile Indian Premier League could be shifted to South Africa due to the security concerns posed by the upcoming general election, the dates of which are clashing with the event.

The Indian Premier League authorities will be meeting home ministry officials soon and a final decision on the venue and the exact schedule is expected to be taken in the coming 10 days. The general election is scheduled to be held in April-May. "We are considering so many options. We are meeting the home ministry officials and the home minister to know the possible dates on which we can accommo-

date (the IPL) in India as far as possible, we are keen holding the matches in India. If not, South Africa is the preferred destination. But also the second and third options are open," IPL chairman

Ranjib Biswal said.

He, however, did not name the second and third options speculated to be Bangladesh and the UAE. "What we are asking is, we have a window from April 9 to June 3. We will

be speaking to the government officials in the home ministry. We want to hold maximum number of matches in India and if we get the green signal, probably we can hold all the matches in India," he said.

The IPL had been shifted to South Africa in 2009 as well because of similar security concerns posed by general election.

Lalit Modi was the IPL commissioner at that time.

"We are in constant touch with franchises, we have taken them into confidence in the last two days we held a series of meetings with them. We have made our stand clear.

They appreciated our concerns and they have given us cooperation on this matter," Biswal said.

SPORT WORLD

Pietersen wishes to lead Delhi Daredevils

Kevin Pietersen, whose England career came to an abrupt end after a disastrous Ashes campaign earlier this month, expressed desire to lead the Delhi Daredevils in the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League. "I would like to be in a leadership role in some way, whether it is captaincy or helping out the leader and the youngsters in the team," Pietersen told the presenter of the players` auction broadcaster via a telephonic conversation. Pietersen said he was thrilled to be back with the Delhi Daredevils, which he termed as his `family.` "It feels great to be with the Delhi family. We have got a strong team this time around. It is now a matter of gelling together as a unit," said Pietersen. Pietersen was a part of the Daredevils team last season as well.

BCCI to present corruption-free image of IPL

The BCCI is planning to go all-out in its bid to present a corruption-free image of the IPL to the public before the 2014 season starts. It told to the IPL governing council members that the Board will launch a ‘clean-IPL’ campaign in March leading up to the tournament. “We will not only stick to Hindi or English. The campaign will be in different regional languages across India and top cricketers will be used for the campaign,” a BCCI source said.

According to the plan, Sachin Tendulkar might be speaking in Marathi or Sourav Ganguly in Bengali explaining to the fans that IPL was always corruption free. “We want stars of the specific regions speaking in their mother tongue on television about the highs of IPL,” the source added.

Indian flag hoisted at Sochi

India completed its return to the Olympic family on Sunday when its flag was hoisted at the Sochi Games, five days after the International Olympic Committee lifted its suspension on the South Asian nation. India had been banned since December 2012 after elections at its Olympic association (IOA) saw a corruption-tainted official voted in as secretary general. The IOC lifted the ban on February 11 following fresh elections last week, allowing it to be represented at the Olympics and bringing the total number of nations competing at Russia's first Winter Games to 88. "Very, very emotional," new IOA President N Ramachandran, who is also heading the World Squash Federation, said. "For us after having been out of the IOC and the Olympic movement for 15 months to come back to it and to come back to it within two days of our elections, I just couldn't believe it,” Ramachandran said.

Countdown for 2015 World Cup begins in New Zealand

The countdown for the 2015 World Cup began last week, with exactly one year to go for the inaugural match in New Zealand; to mark the event, the joint hosts unveiled countdown clocks in all the seven venues where the matches will be played: Auckland, Hamilton, Napier, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch and Dunedin.

Their co-hosts, Australia, will play their first game a few hours later, with their team taking on England in Melbourne; India enter the fray as defending

champions on the next day, clashing with Pakistan in a tough Pool B match. The pool also features South Africa and West Indies.

Incidentally, the tickets too went up on sale, with the lowest available for just $5 for children during the pool games.

"We want to make sure that everyone at every school in New Zealand is aware of the World Cup. We are even developing a curriculum and some materials to go with, little cricket bat sets, just to grow the awareness levels across the country," Therese Walsh, the

31

head of operations, New Zealand said at a function.

Prime Minister John Kelly and many former players, including Sunil Gavaskar from India, Richard Hadlee from NZ and Dean Jones from Australia were present on the occasion. Hadlee said New Zealand would be in with a real shot, given their form this year.

"If we can replicate the form that we're in now in 12 months time then

we're in with a shot," he said.

"But we do have that mental barrier don't we?

Six previous semifinals but we've not gone beyond that. If we can make the semifinal and dig deep, then it's 50-50 on the day when you're in the final, so we can live in hope," he added.

Pool A: England, Australia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, New Zealand, Afghanistan & Scotland Pool B: South Africa, India, Pakistan, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Ireland and United Arab Emirates.

SPORT

32

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 22nd February 2014

NZ score series win over India Brendon McCullum's triple century torments Dhoni’s men

queues formed outside the ground to see what many in the small crowd hoped would be history in the making. He scored his first run of the day when he pushed an Ishant Sharma delivery wide of mid-off and strolled through for a single, which was warmly applauded, and pulled the bowler to the midwicket fence for his first boundary.

Ishant caused a collective intake of breath when he comprehensively beat McCullum on 293, though the batsman did not get a nick. Neesham, however, was not getting caught up in the emotion as the tension ramped up with every delivery, every over that McCullum was still at the

crease being applauded.

The 23-year-old temporarily stole his captain's thunder with his first test century when he tucked Ishant off his hip for two runs. Neesham's century came from 123 balls, including 15 boundaries, and was greeted with a massive cheer from the crowd as he raised his arms and celebrated.

McCullum then reached the milestone many had been waiting for when he dabbed Zaheer Khan behind square for his 32nd four and received a sustained round of applause that went on for more than a minute, while his father Stu jumped to his feet in celebration.

The 32-year-old's innings lasted just two more balls when he feathered a catch off Zaheer to Dhoni. His triple century was the 28th in test cricket and the New Zealand skipper became the 24th player to score one. Brian Lara, Virender Sehwag, Chris Gayle and Don Bradman all struck two triple tons.

McCullum scored 535 runs in the two-match series, having also scored 224 in the first game in Auckland.

Playing their second match of the Under-19 World Cup at Dubai against Scotland on Monday, India looked in dominant mood, shooting out the minnows for merely 89 in less than 30 overs.

The bowling stars were left-arm bowler Kuldeep Yadav, who took a hattrick - the first by an Indian bowler in the U-19 World Cup - and off-spinner Aamir Gani. Both took four wickets each with only opener Andrew Umeed (44) showing the desire to fight it out.

In their chase though, India faltered, slipping to

22 for 5 before another rearguard action by Sarfaraz Khan (45 not out), and his 70-run unbeaten sixth wicket partnership with Deepak Hooda (24 not out) saw India through. For the Scots, left-arm spinner Chayank Gosain took three wickets.

Having won their opener against Pakistan too, the defending champions are now through to the quarterfinals. They have another league game against Papua New Guinea. While all’s well that ends well, the inexplicable collapse of the top-

order on Monday should send alarm bells ringing.

Against Pakistan also, India had slipped to 91 for four before recovering through Sarfaraz and Sanju Samson. Coach Bharat Arun feels his batsmen will find their touch soon. “I am not worried.

I’m sure they’ll start clicking again. They were in good form coming here,” Arun said. Isn’t skipper Vijay Zol’s form (he has scored just seven runs in two outings so far) a cause for concern? “I’d be more worried if he was getting out after reaching double figures,” felt Arun.

India retained their second position in the Reliance ICC Test Team Rankings following the Wellington Test, which ended in a draw to give New Zealand a 1-0 series win. But the series result has made Australia's task of finishing ahead of India on the table before the April 1 cut-off date slightly easier.

Australia, who lead 10, need to draw the ongoing three-Test series with South Africa to leapfrog India.

I f Au s t r a l i a win the series 1-0, they will rise to 115 ratings points, whereas a 20 win will put give them 116 on r a t i n g s points.

In contrast, if South Africa bounce back and win the next two Tests, then they will not only retain their pre-series rat-

ing of 133 ratings points, but Australia will also remain behind India on 110 ratings points.

South Africa is already guaranteed the numberone position at the April 1 cut-off date and, as such, will retain the mace and will also collect a cheque of $450,000, while the side that finishes second will pocket $350,000, while $250,000 will go to the third-ranked side. England will collect $150,000 as they will finish fourth at the April 1 cut-off date.

New Zealand recorded their first test series victory over India since 2002 when the second match ended in a draw on Tuesday after Brendon McCullum had become the first New Zealander to score a test triple century.

Captain McCullum's 302 anchored New Zealand's record 680 for eight declared, setting the visitors the impossible task of scoring 435 runs in 67 overs to achieve the victory they needed after the hosts won the first test at Eden Park by 40 runs.

New Zealand had India in trouble early in their second innings with the sniff of an unlikely victory in their nostrils but once Virat Kohli knuckled down to record his sixth test century, McCullum and Mahendra Singh Dhoni decided to call the game off with 15 overs remaining.

Tim Southee took two wickets after lunch to reduce India to 54 for three before Kohli (105 not out) and Rohit Sharma (31 not out) batted out the remainder of the day's play to take their side through to 166 for three.

"Without being disrespectful I probably didn't know the magnitude of it (scoring 300) until the last 24 hours," McCullum said.

"I watched Martin Crowe score his 299 and thought it would have been an amazing feat if he scored 300 but probably didn't quite understand how much it meant to the whole country.

"I think in terms of New Zealand cricket and moving forward for this team, we have finally broken that 300 barrier and hopefully some of these guys will continue to break that."

Tense atmosphere: McCullum resumed with debutant Jimmy Neesham (67 overnight), as the

Yadav trick takes India to U-19 quarters

India retain second place in ICC ratings

India have slipped from 117 ratings points to 112 ratings points, and are ahead of Australia by just one ratings point.

Fraser and Collingwood back in England fold

Former test players Angus Fraser and Paul Collingwood have been brought back into the England fold as a selector and coach respectively.

Fraser is to work alongside James Whitaker and Ashley Giles on the three-man selection panel while Collingwood will join the backroom staff for the forthcoming limited-overs tour to West Indies and the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh. Former seam bowler Fraser, who played 46 tests and 42 one-day matches for his country, will combine his England duties with his role as Middlesex's director of cricket. "I am chuffed to be involved and am looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead," the 48-year-old said. "Despite the doom and gloom after this winter's Ashes, I believe it's a really exciting time to be involved in the England setup," said Fraser, referring to Australia's 5-0 test series victory. Former England batsman Collingwood, 37, who played 68 tests, 197 one-dayers and 35 Twenty20s, will combine his temporary international commitments with his playing role as captain of Durham.

Sri Lanka win T20 series against Bangladesh

Sachithra Senanakaye hit a boundary off the last ball as Sri Lanka secured a dramatic three-wicket win over Bangladesh in the second Twenty20 match in Chittagong to win the series 2-0. Having bowled the hosts out for a paltry 120, Sri Lanka stuttered in their reply to lose six wickets for 50 runs by the 12th over at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury stadium. Veteran Kumar Sangakkara and Thisara Perera rebuilt the side with a 46-run partnership for the seventh wicket. But when Sangakkara was snapped up at point off Rubel Hossain for 37, Sri Lanka still needed 25 to win off the last 20 balls.

Senanayake helped Perera (35 not out) inch closer to the target and then sealed the exciting win by pulling medium-pacer Farhad Reza for a boundary off the final delivery of the match. Sri Lanka had also clinched a last-ball win in the first match at the same venue earlier, leaving the hosts heartbroken for the second time in three days.

Moin Khan appointed Pakistan cricket coach

Pakistan appointed former captain Moin Khan as the head coach of the national team, replacing Australian Dav Whatmore whose two-year contract expired last month. Khan, 42, was shortlisted along with another former captain and excoach Waqar Younis by a fourman committee which included former captain Javed Miandad, Intikhab Alam and Wasim Akram earlier this week.

The decision came after a lengthy management committee meeting under the chairmanship of Najam Sethi who replaced Zaka Ashraf. The decision came as a blow to Younis who was regarded as favourite to regain the post he left in 2011 but Ashraf's sacking led to him not being selected.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief operating officer Subhan Ahmed said that Khan would coach the team for this month's Asia Cup and next month's World Twenty20 - both to be held in Bangladesh.